Dark Side of the Moons
by Sahara1256
Summary: Raven inspected the pods. He couldn't make anything out of the shapes in them through the collection of dust and bubbles. He looked for a switch of some kind near them. He found a stone tablet with ancient writting,meant nothing to him as far as he knew..
1. The Lilac Legend

**_Sahara1256: Yeah I know a lot of people are going to be like "You should have just stuck to 'Shadow's Essence' " but I'm a Raven fan girl I couldn't help myself. Anyway Raven will be Out of Character plenty of times in here. After all a love changes people and makes them act out of their own character anyway. So if something is way beyond Raven like blame it on Reika and myself . I'm gonna try my very best to make sure he stays in character through out the most of this so constructive critizim is welcome._**

**Chapter one**

_The Lilac legend_

A sandstorm blew on through the desert. Jeeps and Zoids blew up dust and dirt behind them. Rev Raptors and Hell Gunners traveled behind jeeps. Prozen sat in the front of the lead one. His snowy white hair flew behind him as the jeeps were managing to stay ahead of the Raptors and gunners.

"How much further until we reach that Oasis?" Prozen grumbled.

"A couple kilometers more sir." The grunt driving said. Prozen sighed and leaned back in his seat more. He looked out over the dunes and saw the outline of the Red Zaber Fang. He smirked, knowing exactly who it was and what it meant. "Looks like Raven cleared the way again sir." The grunt stated.

Prozen chuckled. "I know."

Finally reaching the dunes, Shadow and Raven emerged from the Red Zaber fang. The Rev Raptors remained outside of the ruins on guard for any Republican Zoids coming to claim the ruins as well.

Prozen approached Raven and Shadow. "You two and a few others will accompany me into the ruins." He stated. Raven already had his arms crossed and he carried a bored expression immediately.

"Whatever Prozen…I hope you know that I'm truly not interested in these ruins like you. I am however interested in destroying more Zoids." He stated coldly smirking.

"Well going through here may lead us to getting closer to ultimate power and more destruction like you crave." Prozen stated. Raven flicked his wrist at him with his normal attitude. They began heading into the ruins. Raven ignored the grunts and scientists behind him. He heard a few of them murmur admirations of the hieroglyphics on the wall and some others complain about the dark. Raven smirked again, for he was used to darkness like this because this also filled most of his heart. He was after all the second coldest person on the planet Zi. A scientist in front of Prozen stopped dead in his tracks when he saw light pouring in from one end of the corridor. Raven sighed and kept on walking instead of awing with the rest of the bunch. He and Shadow were the first ones in over centuries to enter the Oasis of the ruins. He shielded his eyes from the brightness of the sunlight reflecting off the crystal clear pool of water directly in the center of the ruins.

Prozen walked in after him. "How does it feel to be the first person in centuries to walk into this place?" he asked.

"Like nothing I've ever felt before." Raven rolled his eyes as sarcasm dripped from every letter in his sentence. Shadow wandered a little ways off from them and was admiring the lilacs, lavenders and violets that were abundant around the Oasis. "Think this place has enough purple in it?" Raven whined. Prozen chuckled loudly behind him. Raven walked further in and around the Oasis. "What are we looking for in the first place?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"Anything that may help us supply more power to crush the Republic."

"That was really helpful…" Raven mumbled. He walked back into the ruins. He and Shadow wandered the corridors. He ran his hand over the wall so he knew when to turn. His fingers caught onto a stretch of vines. "Eh?...Get off." He said to himself as he had difficulty getting the vines off his fingers. In the process of prying the vines off his fingers and hand he had hit a button. It glowed in a purple shade and then the light spread through like water spilling into a river, into the crevices dug into the wall. They made circuit like shapes and then a door opened up. "What the-," Raven stopped short. He watched in confusion as the door rose above his head and a new room was in front of him. Smoke of some sort filled the air. Dust, pollen, and dirt filled Raven's lungs for a minute. He wandered into the room without calling out to Prozen before hand. He saw two pods that were glowing green colors and attached mechanically to the ceiling.

Raven beckoned Shadow into the room with him. He inspected the smaller pod. He peered in and saw something through the mess of bubbles and collected dust. He looked around the pod for anything like a button or pad. He found something carved into stone next to it. Ancient text that meant nothing to him. As far as he knew… He called for Prozen. He had moved his hand slightly and hit a key button. The Pod started glowing brighter and the bubbles started moving faster. Raven backed up in shock and then the pod opened up at the top and steam escaped rapidly from it. Then Raven felt a wave of warmth come over him. He opened his eyes and waved away the smog with his hand. He saw through the steam and saw a girl, who looked just a bit younger than him.

Keep in mind this wasn't just _any _girl. Her hair was a lilac purple. It reached the middle of her back and was sticking to her as if it were wet. There were wires and other mechanical looking devices fallen around her, conveniently covering most of her naked body. For the first time that whole day Raven was staring at something with awe. He was taken away by the sudden event and the confusion overwhelmed him. Prozen came rushing in.

"Good job Raven. I think you found something important." Prozen walked over to the girl's motionless body. Prozen saw the expression of awe on Raven's face, which was a very new and rare event. Raven saw Prozen moving towards the girl and for some reason was very compelled to run towards them both and beat him to her. Scientists and grunts followed in after Prozen. Shadow was sniffing the other pod curiously. A scientist found the stone plate Raven discovered earlier. He pulled out a small machine and ran it over the plate. It was a decoder.

"Lord Prozen…Listen to this." He started. "_Here lies a girl with lilac hair, who escaped death guarded by a friend who cares_." He recited. Prozen shrugged it off and placed a hand on the girls shoulder. Suddenly the Pod that Shadow was checking out began glowing and bubbling violently. It burst open in a more explosive style than the girl's. A deep royal purple Organoid with deep emerald eyes had came flying out towards Prozen. Shadow tackled it before it reached him. Grunts then surrounded Prozen and two of them went towards the fighting Organoids. Shadow had leapt off of it and then they had netted the purple Organoid.

The grunts obscured Raven's view of the girl, and he was overly curious at what was going on. He began walking towards them and then a scientist put his arm in front of him. Raven pushed his arm aside and managed to squeeze his way in. He saw Prozen turning the girl over and checking her pulse on her neck.

"Well she is alive." Prozen stated. Raven didn't take to notice he was still in awe, and Prozen was still utterly befuddled by his awe. "Can someone fetch clothing of some sort for her; we have a hormonal adolescent with us you know." Prozen was referring to Raven. Raven didn't take to notice what he said.

"What the hell just happened?" Raven asked confused and almost dazed. A grunt pushed past him with a large blanket and an extra uniform. They donned the girl with just the shirt of the uniform, seeing it was large enough to cover her petite figure completely and wrapped her in the blanket and carried her and dragged the Organoid out back to the Zoids and jeeps.

Raven was about to climb into the Zaber fang when Prozen had called him. Raven turned around to face him. He seemed back to normal.

"Good job in finding us an ancient Zoidian. This helps us big time in the grand scheme of things." Prozen praised. He didn't realize praise to Raven meant nothing, especially from him. Raven nodded and began to climb into the cockpit. "Oh and one more thing." Prozen stated. He was experimenting with Raven's confusion and complicated feelings. "Could you take her in the back seat of the Zaber Fang? We don't want to expose her to the sand in the desert and I don't trust the piloting of the other men very well." Prozen asked. Raven stood there a moment in a daze again.

"Sure…why not." The words escaped without any control.

"Good, Bring her over here!" He shouted across the way. A grunt carried her bridal style to the Zaber Fang and was about to place her in. Raven stepped in.

"It's ok, I got this. My Zoid, my job." He stated. The grunt looked at him confused. He hand her over to him and Raven held her up bridal style with ease. He lifted her into the Zaber fang and strapped her in. Prozen smiled in triumph as he walked away.

"Found it…" He murmured evilly to himself.

As they started off after Prozen left, Raven took a glance back at her. She was sleeping in a deep sleep. She could have fooled anyone into thinking she was dead. Raven reached his hand behind him and placed two fingers on her neck to check her pulse. He felt his finger tips almost sink into her fair skin. He felt her beating pulse and he also felt something weird transpiring in himself. As if there was something waiting to be let out or have a reason at least. He let his fingers linger on her a little longer before he slid his fingers off and paid attention to where he was going. Raven couldn't put his finger on the strange sensations that had just run through him. His head began to hurt. That was one feeling he could identify.


	2. Reika

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Reika_

Raven walked through the halls of the palace. Prozen had ordered that the lilac haired Zoidian girl be put under a constant medical watch for a while. He was feeling somewhat anxious about something and he couldn't put his finger on it again. Shadow walked faithfully by his side. Raven had another blank expression on his face. Except this one was a bit colder looking than lost. To those who passed by him, he seemed angry and frustrated.

He finally stopped at a balcony overlooking part of the gardens below. He looked down and he saw Prozen sitting there on one of the benches, reading. Raven felt something awkward bubble up inside him. Not like anger and not like anything good at all. He saw Prozen look up and he tried to walk away. But Prozen called out to him.

"Raven, why don't you come join me, I have some things to tell you." He called out to him. Raven gave a sigh and began to walk to palace halls to the garden. He made it down there and walked towards Prozen, who closed his book and motioned for him to sit next to him on the bench.

"So what do you want to tell me?" Raven said in an annoyed tone sitting next to him.

"Well I figure you'd want to know about that lovely specimen we found at the ruins." Prozen stated. The aftermath of his statement was very shocking.

"You mean the girl. That_ I_ found." Raven corrected Prozen, leaving a Gustav load of emphasis on "I". Prozen may not have shown it, but he was very surprised by Raven's response, same went for Raven.

"Well, we have decided to give her a name and she gets to stay in the palace as my adoptive daughter. We also plan to use her for further experimentation with the Zoid Eve." Prozen stated. Raven grunted in disapproval.

"Experimentation… Heh…" He got up and began walking away.

"What's wrong with you?" Prozen asked slyly. "Something against experimenting on a person? That's not like you in the least bit. Since when have you been against harming another being?" Prozen asked. Raven stopped walking and his facial expression finally changed. He gulped as he tried to think of an answer. He began walking as he reclaimed his composure. He heard Prozen's laughter from behind him. "Her name is Reika, and for the next while, you're her guardian." Prozen shouted to, Raven, as he left. He reopened his book and Raven made it back into the corridors.

He walked quickly back to his room and sat down on his bed. He hung his head over. He searched his brain for an answer to Prozen's burning question. What had gotten into him? Why had he been feeling like this? When did he start to even have ANY feeling other than anger and aloofness? He held his head in his hands. Raven started to feel his head pound. Too many thoughts were crossing at the same time. He groaned a little and he lied down on his bed. He held his hand on his forehead to suppress the pounding. Shadow lied down at the foot of the bed on the floor, almost like a dog mimicking his master.

The sudden impact of the emotions over the past forty-eight hours was finally taking its toll on the second coldest person on planet Zi. He clenched a fist with his left hand and hit it against the bed. The idea of experimenting on the Zoidian girl was horrid to him and he had no idea why. Why did it seem so horrid to him now? He knew if it was someone else he had just met it wouldn't faze him in the least bit. What was it about that girl? Many different thoughts flowed in about that question. Maybe it was how she seemed so dead when she came back into the world that she didn't deserve it? What had she done? How could he have been the one to find her? If one of the grunts found her he wouldn't have given a single care to this assignment of watching her, wouldn't have given a single care if she had gotten experiments done on her, and definitely wouldn't be lying here now wonder all of these things.

Raven's eyes were getting heavy. They slowly were starting to shut. He fell asleep and then soon enough he was thrown into more confusion.

The dream was not something that was helping him get over this confusion. He saw the pods again, he could feel the warmth of the steam and smoke like air flowing onto his skin again, making every hair stand on end. Then all of the sudden he was brought to the Oasis again. Except, there was no ruins…It was at the base of the mountain, and he saw the girl sitting by the purple Organoid. Lilacs, violets, and lavenders were strewn across the edges of the oasis. Raven reached his hand out to them and was speechless. He opened his mouth a twitch and then the scenery changed to the oasis when she was being put into the pod. He saw how scared the expressions on all of the Zoidian's faces were. He saw how they pushed her into the pod. She stood there timidly, trying so hard to look brave. He saw a tear roll down her cheek and he felt something tug at his chest. Then the pod closed and then all of the sudden everything went black. A pitch, endless, bleak, and hopeless darkness. He felt out of his body. Then suddenly whispers came from the darkness, familiar sounds. He saw something like a projector, or perhaps through someone else's eyes. He saw the green tint of the pod and through that tint himself! Peering in through the transparent glass. Then it went black again. Then he felt a shiver crawl quickly down from his shoulder through his spine and to his feet. Then something cloth like being wrapped around him. Then he saw himself again. Except it was when he had left his fingers lingering on the girl's neck, when he was checking for her pulse.

While in his sleep he was groaning and moaning out of pain and confusion. The dream was mixing with his current thoughts. Raven's eyes shot open and he let out a gasp of relief to be awake. He held his head again and he groaned. He slowly sat up and rubbed his temples. He was starting to wonder if that girl had seen all of those things that he did. Then it hit him that she wasn't just "That girl" anymore. Nor was she "that Zoidian", "that lovely specimen", or "artifact". Her name came off of his lips as water goes down a parched man's throat, so very easily the syllables that made up her name were said by him. As if her name were spoken all of his life.

"_Reika_…"


	3. Privilage

**CHAPTER THREE**

_Privilege_

After the three day period Prozen's team of scientists had kept Reika under extreme medical watch, it was Raven's turn to baby-sit. He didn't think too highly of this but Prozen secretly did. To every other person in the midst of taking care of her he refereed to it as "Raven's privilege". Prozen intended to make Reika, Raven's weak point, and thus control him more so than he already did. He was a clever and malevolent man and the entire planet Zi could tell that from the way he simply smiled.

Raven slowly made his way down the corridors to Reika's quarters. Almost to a trudge it seemed. He was trying to postpone the inevitable. An inescapable fate, he was destined to get close to her, regretfully to him. Raven had no desire to be a part of anyone else's life. He wanted to live his own the way he had started to believe was the way. To kill and destroy. To murder and massacre. To loathe and hate all beings and Zoids alike. To get close to someone else was something he was almost allergic to. He never really needed company after all.

He found her room. He knocked once and he heard Prozen's voice boom.

"Enter." Raven turned the knob and walked inside. There he saw Prozen with his arm around his "daughter's" shoulder sitting on the side of her bed. She was wearing a simple white dress with black laces trimming the chest and skirt of it. It was spaghetti strap and she also had on a black lacey choker. Her lilac hair was up in a messy bun and her eyes were wide and wondering. She lifted her hand up skittishly and gave a small wave to Raven. Raven was dumbstruck and didn't do a single thing. "Reika this is Raven, he is your care taker for now." Prozen stated. He gave her a pat on the back. Reika got up nervously and walked over to Raven. Raven was trying his very best not to show any form of emotion. She gave a small smile and curtsied.

"Nice to meet you, Raven." She said. Raven gave a small gulp.

"Nice to…meet you too…" He managed to stammer. Prozen chuckled a bit.

"Ok, well it's time to escort Reika to her friend." Prozen stated getting up off the side of the bed. He walked up to the two and placed his arm over his daughter again. Raven felt the feeling bubble up again. Then Prozen began small idle chit chat on the way to the storage room with her Organoid. Raven walked behind them, never taking his eyes off of Reika. He was told to guard her, and guard her he will. Guard her from what? Or better yet who? Prozen, that's who! Even though the man was posing as her father, he was still a threat to her in Raven's eyes. A wolf in sheep's clothing. He knew that Prozen planned on doing experiments on her, and planned on using her for more information on Zoid Eve.

As they wound their way through corridors Prozen finally led them into a hangar. The sounds of drills and machines working on the damaged Zoids were a sickening sound to Raven, but to Reika it was unfamiliar. Prozen kept them going until he reached a storage room. There he took his arm off of Reika's shoulder and punched in the key code. Raven took the spot next to Reika, unknowingly. It was almost like a robotic movement. The door opened and the dark purple Organoid that Shadow had wrestled was standing right before them. It was about the same size as Shadow, it had three reptilian fringes coming off the back of its head. Making it just seem a little fiercer. The under side of its neck was midnight black, and inner thigh-ish area was also that same color. The whole abdomen, except for one strip where the spine would be located on anything else, was black as well. The rest of it was that dark purple violet color. The eyes were emerald green and its tail was tipped with a sharp blade.

"I remember you." Reika said walking towards it. The Organoid made a mechanical purr sound as it nuzzled her. Reika began to pet it like a dog. "How are you feeling Luminescent? How did these nice people treat you?" Reika was speaking in a kind and almost motherly voice. Raven made a small chuckle to her comment about "the nice people". Luminescent began to make speech like sounds and nuzzle her again.

"Ah so her name is Luminescent?" Prozen stated as she began to giggle when Luminescent nuzzled her some more.

Prozen led them back through some more corridors and pointed out several rooms to her. "Ok sweetheart I have to go to a meeting with the Emperor." Prozen gave his daughter a kiss on her forehead. "Raven I leave you in charge of her now. Be good Reika." Prozen said as he began walking down the corridors towards the meeting room.

Reika stood there with Luminescent gazing quizzically over at Raven, who was desperately trying to avoid looking back at her.

"So…what are we going to do now?" She asked in her innocent voice. Raven gulped. He didn't think about what he was supposed to do while watching her. Prozen didn't give him much to work with did he?

"Well I don't know." Raven answered. He started walking away without looking at her and she began to follow. They walked on for a while in silence before Raven finally said something else. "What would you like to do?" He asked. In the first time in years Raven considered what someone else wanted.

"I do not know. What is there to do?" She asked while she was trotting next to Luminescent. Raven looked at her Organoid and remembered he left Shadow in their room.

"Well, I need to go get Shadow, and then we can find something to do." Raven stated turning back around, avoiding eye contact.

"Shadow? Who is Shadow?" She asked.

"My, Organoid." He answered.

"Oh, so Shadow is your friend like Luminescent is mine."

"Sort of…" Raven replied.

"Oh. I cannot wait to meet him. I'm sure him and Luminescent will get along." Reika stated cheerfully. She had no clue Shadow had helped the grunts take down Luminescent at first to capture her.

"Yeah…Let's hope." Raven murmured the last part of his sentence.


	4. Does She know?

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Does she know?_

Raven went and turned the door handle to his and Shadow's room. He opened the door a crack and slipped inside.

"Wait right here Reika." Raven instructed, without making eye contact yet again. Raven walked inside and saw Shadow lift his head up from the bed, wagging his tail excited to see Raven back. "All right Shadow, listen, we have to watch Reika now, and the Organoid you brought down was hers. So be nice. I don't feel like breaking up any fights." He commanded. Shadow nodded. Raven turned back to the door and invited her and Luminescent in. "This is my room, or better yet where I stay when I come here." Raven stated as Reika looked around.

"What do you mean Raven?" She asked.

"I'm normally away on missions and assignments." He answered. Shadow got up off the bed and caught her attention. Reika let out a small gasp.

"Oh THAT'S Shadow!" She stated in realization. She walked right up to him without fear and began to pet him like she did Luminescent. "Luminescent told me earlier that they sent a black one after her."

"She, told you?" Raven said confused.

"Yes, you didn't hear her?"

"Um, I don't Raven answered dumbfounded still by her statements.

"Oh…" Reika replied sounding almost disappointed. "It's not Organoid we were speaking." She turned back to Shadow petting him; her voice seemed a little saddened. Raven felt his stomach churn as her voice made it to his ears. "It was Zoidian." She stated.

"_Than how can she understand me and the rest of us?_" Raven thought befuddled. "Oh." He walked over to Shadow and her. "Well why don't we just go into the city today. I can go ask one of the Advisors that work near Prozen to let him know where I took you. And possibly get some cash to buy some things." Raven suggested changing the topic.

"Ok, sounds fine to me." Reika said walking back to Luminescent. Her and Luminescent were about to walk out the door and Raven placed a hand on her shoulder really fast. Reika turned around expecting him to say something. His heart beat had a sudden change to it and it startled him. His breathing went out of whack for a moment and he regain composure after a lapse.

"Actually you wait here until I get back. I have to go get the Zaber Fang out of the hangar and find the Advisor, and you'd get really bored trust me." Raven explained taking his hand, almost reluctantly, off of her shoulder.

"Oh ok." She smiled sweetly. She walked by him with Luminescent and sat on his bed and pet both her Organoid and his. "We'll be waiting for you right here, Raven." She said. He nodded and left.

Once he was out the door he leaned against the wall right next to it. He held his hand on his chest checking his heart beat. It was beating quite fast and that wasn't normal to him. He began breathing in and out slowly to regulate it and he finally got it back to normal. "_Note to self…never touch Reika again…she messes up the circulatory system or something…_" Raven mentally noted. He turned to his right and began walking the corridors and looking like he normally does. Aloof. He only prayed no one saw his little episode right then. Something like that could be used against him or better yet to confuse him further like what Prozen's question did.

He walked on a little farther and found one of Prozen's advisors.

"Hey you." The advisor recognized Raven as he caught his attention. "I'm taking Reika out into the city in the Zaber fang, I'm also taking the Organoids with us." Raven stated.

"Ok I'll be sure to inform Prozen once he's out of his meeting." He said. Raven nodded and then headed towards the hangar. He called out to someone and had them set the Zaber fang up for departure. He made his way back to the room to get Reika and the Organoids. He walked back into his room and found Reika napping on his bed. She was curled up with the Organoids at the foot of the bed. He hadn't been gone that long had he?!

He walked up to the edge of the bed and leaned near her. He was about to nudge her shoulder a little, then he recalled his mental note about the circulatory system.

"Hey, Reika…Reika," Raven called out to her. Reika's eyes fluttered open.

"Oh your back! Are we leaving now?" Reika shot up from slumber and seemed like she was never asleep. Raven stood up straight again.

"Yeah we're leaving now. Come on Shadow, Luminescent." He called to the Organoids. He went to the door and opened up and the others filed out.

He led them down to the hangar and got into the Zaber Fang. He took the front seat and waited for Reika to take the back. He looked up expecting her to take a step in and sit. He still watched her expectantly.

"Aren't you going to get in?" Raven asked. She looked down and shook her head. "Why?" He asked again.

"I do not want to fall…" Reika stated skittishly. Raven found her fear cute. He got out of the cockpit and helped her into the backseat. He got back in and instructed that Luminescent and Shadow follow on foot.

They were traveling on the stoned paved road into the city. Raven heard Reika rustling behind him. He contained his laughter as he heard her moving around and struggling with the safety restraints. He looked out of his peripheral vision and saw Luminescent and shadow trotting by the Zaber Fang's side.

"So where are we going to in the city?" Reika asked settling herself comfortably in her seat finally. Raven sat in thought for a moment.

"I guess we could go through the market, if you want to browse through things." Raven answered.

"Oh okay. What about Shadow and Luminescent?"

"They'll stand back with the Zaber Fang. You'll see that they draw unwanted attention to themselves." Raven replied. He surprisingly wasn't getting frustrated with her constant questions. She remained silent the rest of the way to the city. She watched the Organoids and the unchanging landscape from the cockpit. Finally Raven found a nice hidden spot out in the dunes near the city to leave the Zaber fang and the Organoids.

He opened the cockpit and undid his seatbelt. Raven put one foot on the edge of the cockpit and was about to jump off when he remembered Reika was probably going to have problems getting down. He turned his head towards her and saw her struggling to get her seatbelt off. He reached over and moved her hands, he unbuckled it and turned away quickly to avoid her seeing his face go slightly pink. His heartbeat changed up again. She still had the "Ability" to "Mess with his circulatory system".

"Um, Raven…" She murmured innocently. He flushed red. He glanced over to see she was looking over the side skittishly. "I do not think I can get down…" She stated. Raven sighed to himself and went over next to her.

"It's okay Reika, I'll help you down." He stated. He stepped back onto the edge, he reached around her and lifted her up bridal style. Raven was shocked at how light she was to him. Almost like picking up a small flower. He jumped off carefully from the lowered Zaber Fang. When he landed and let Reika down, reluctantly, he realized to avoid his face becoming even redder, he could have had Shadow or Luminescent take her down. He mentally noted that too, along with the fact he kept forgetting how she made his heart rate change drastically. "So now we go into the city. Tell Luminescent we'll be back soon." Raven told her. Reika nodded and went back over to Luminescent. She said softly what they were doing and Shadow and Luminescent went over by the Zaber Fang.

Raven led her through the city, he had her walk beside him, where he could tell where she was but not have to make much eye contact. He inspected a few stands and saw nothing of any particular interest to him, but Reika found many of the things the stands were selling very appealing. Her attention moved from one thing to the next in a matter of seconds or minutes, depending on how interesting it was to her. Raven couldn't help but smile at a few of her remarks about the hats someone was selling, or the fruit on the stand next to that one that was rotting away. Raven tuned out her ooo's and ahhh's as he desperately tried to find something that would occupy his attention, other than her.

Reika let out a small gasp and jogged off to one of the stands. Raven immediately took off after her. He reached her when she stopped to look at a stand selling flowers. Raven only slapped his forehead, thinking she found something beyond the ordinary. There was an array of flowers on the man's stand. Roses, carnations, lilacs, morning glories, and lavenders. Raven saw how her eyes flickered to the lilacs, morning glories and lavenders.

"They remind me of home…" she murmured. Raven felt another tug in his chest, like ice was shattering inside of him and piercing his ribs.

"Like back at the oasis…" Raven stated softly, wonder if she even remembered all of it. She nodded.

"Yes, just like from the oasis." She replied. She ran her fingers lightly over one of the lavender's velvet petals. Raven pulled out the coin purse he had brought with him. He walked up next to her and looked up at the salesman.

"How many can I buy with this?" Raven asked pouring a few large coins from the purse into his hand. Leaving a good amount of money in the bag still.

"Five." He answered. Raven handed him the money.

"Go ahead and pick five flowers Reika." He told her. A smile formed quickly on her face. She picked two lavenders, two Morning glories and one Lilac. The man wrapped the flowers into a bouquet. With the Lilac surrounded by the other named flowers.

They went on their way and Reika smelt the flowers and looked at them lovingly.

"Thank you Raven." She thanked him graciously. Raven looked down, tying the coin purse back onto his belt.

"It was…no problem Reika…" He stuttered slightly. Saying her name was the easiest part of his whole sentence. The rest he choked out. He looked up at the sky and saw it was getting close to the evening. Time flew by today. "I think we should start heading back home." Raven stated. Reika nodded, still not taking her eyes off of the flowers. Raven led her back out of the city to the Zaber fang. They saw Shadow and Luminescent wrestling playfully next to it. Reika chuckled lightly as Raven sighed as broke their fun up. He had Luminescent bring her up this time, so that he didn't have to mess up his breathing again. Immediately as they settled in he made their way back to the Palace. They made it back at sunset.

"I had fun today." Reika said as he helped her out in the hangar.

"Well…I'm glad you had…fun." Raven stuttered again. Reika seemed oblivious to his uncomfortable voice. He walked her and Luminescent back to their room. He opened the door for her and took the flowers and placed them in a vase on her nightstand. She flopped down on her bed. Luminescent jumped next to her and patted down her section of the bed like a feline. Raven gave a small smile as she began to play with Luminescent again. Her and her Organoids laughter was brought to a halt when there was a knock on her door. Raven turned his head quickly to the door.

"Who is it?" Raven beckoned. The door opened and Prozen stepped in. Raven felt a little more angry as he entered in step by step, not only refusing to answer who he was earlier but just his presence around them as well.

"Hello Father." Reika said sweetly. Raven held back a disgusted face. He also held back some other emotion he had no idea about when Prozen gave her a fatherly kiss on the cheek.

"I trust that Raven did a fine job of watching you today?" He asked.

"Yes, he did. He bought these for me," Reika answered pointing to the flowers. "while we walked around the city." She added.

"Oh really now? Well that was very _generous _of Raven to buy those for you Reika. I hope you said Thank you." Prozen emphasized on generous.

"Yes I did father." She answered. Her innocence was starting to get to Raven more and more every time it showed.

"That's good." Prozen replied. "Thank you for watching her Raven, I approve of you watching her, the remainder you are here at the Palace." Prozen added.

"_I don't give a rat's ass if you didn't care…I would have watched her anyway._" Raven thought to himself. "It was no problem really….Well I guess I'll be on my way to my room now." Raven said as he turned on his heel and left.

He lied down on his bed again. He was still curious about how much she remembered from her past life, before they sealed her away. He let out a sigh and turned on his side, facing away from the door. Her smile was permanently engraved in his memory. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her face and that adorable smile. He hit himself one or two more times to snap himself out of his reveries. He knew he couldn't get anywhere near attached to her for both of their sakes. If he got close to her he would only draw in more reason for Prozen to send him away more often, and in turn hurt her not being able to see him. He got used to his heartbeat speeding up every time she came to mind. It was still very new but he managed to get used to it somewhat.

He pulled himself into the sheets and slowly drifted into slumber.


	5. The Plan

**Chapter Five**

_The Plan_

Prozen sat in his office early the next morning. He had a mug of hot tea sitting on the corner of his desk and he had his hands folded and supporting his head. Papers with Reika's experimentation plans written on them sat in front of him. The room was silent and the sun was just beginning to rise a bit more off the horizon. Prozen was plotting on how to use Reika to one more advantage. Raven.

Sure Prozen could just order Raven to do what he wished, but Raven was after all, an individual of sorts. Not the most trustworthy with someone's feelings or safety for that matter.

"_So to keep Raven from running away from my authority, I'll use Reika as an anchor of his loyalty. Possibly even more than just keeping him around. I can send him on some more dangerous errands if I threaten her well being._" Prozen thought while taking a sip of his tea. He looked down at the plans for Reika. He read them over, making sure they weren't too horrid on her. After all, he needed her alive for his secondary usage of her existence.

Raven stirred a little in his sleep. He gave a couple of weak moans and groans as he tossed and turned a bit. Shadow tilted his head at his master's discomfort quizzically. He turned over onto his left side, facing towards his rooms door. He gave another small groan and pressed his face to his pillow. He sat up and held his head. Another bad dream…He opened up his eyes and groggily saw a female figure near his bedside. Raven's vision cleared and Reika was sitting on the edge of his bed.

Raven let out a small yelp and flew back in shock. "W-what are you doing in my room?" He asked befuddled.

"You left your door unlocked, and I thought I would just come and wait for you to wake." Reika said smiling sweetly. Raven felt his face grow hot. Reika took notice and giggled a little more. "Why are you blushing?" she laughed.

"Am not…" Raven shook it off. He got out of his bed sheets and led Reika to the door. "You have to wait outside my door while I change ok?" He instructed.

"Why do I have to wait out there?" Reika inquired.

"Because it's not right for a boy to change when a girl is present." He retorted. "Now wait outside."

"I still do not see why…" she went on.

"Listen Reika, maybe I can explain it to you later, or maybe Prozen will, but for now just take my word for it and stand outside the door." Raven stated sternly.

"Okay…" She said. "But you ARE explaining it to me LATER, right?" She said standing in threshold.

"Yes I am now can you please wait there…" Raven groaned.

"Okay." She said smiling sweetly standing by the doorframe, Luminescent was standing right outside the door as well.

"Thank you." Raven said and closed the door.

He went back over to his bed and picked up the Zoid pilot suit he had on normally. He wore a baggy t-shirt and boxers to bed normally. He's glad he didn't decide to sleep shirtless or there'd be another thing to explain to Reika and another embarrassment to wake up to. He started to change when he heard a creak. He didn't pay any notice, since the palace did that often. Then as he was slipping the bottom portion of the suit on the creak was a little louder. Raven looked over towards the door and saw it quickly close the inch that was open seconds before.

"Reika…" He attempted sounding annoyed, for some reason he still wasn't annoyed by her and her present maturity in this new time frame.

"Yes?" She replied innocently. He smiled.

"What were you just doing?"

"Nothing." Reika answered sweetly. The innocent trip didn't cover up what he just saw her try to do.

"So was that Luminescent peering in a minute ago?" He said zipping up the suit. Raven clearly heard her stutter a bit in her next sentence.

"Yes! Yes it was Luminescent! Bad girl! Disobeying Raven's orders like that!" She "scolded". Luminescent gave a confused mechanical growl. Shadow was snickering on the other side of the bed. Raven walked over to the door and walked out with Shadow close behind. He saw Reika avoiding eye contact and humming like a small child does when they know they've done something their not supposed to do.

Raven placed a hand on her shoulder and led her down the stairwell. "By the way I know it was you." He chuckled. Raven actually gave a laugh that wasn't meant to be mean, rebellious, or sinister. It was laughter of happiness.

"I'm sorry Raven…" Reika said sounding defenseless.

"It's ok. Just don't do it again. And I will explain later." He added.

Reika smiled and nodded. Raven led them down to the enormous dinning hall in the Palace. He led her and the Organoids in and found one small table amongst the many.

"Now wait here while I get us breakfast. What do you want?" He asked before leaving.

"What I ate yesterday." She answered. He paused before he took another step.

"What did you have yesterday?" He asked again.

"Um…They were round and flat and soft and sweet and sticky…" Reika went on.

"Pancakes?"

"Yes that's what father called them!" Raven grimaced.

"Ok, I'll get you those."

Prozen stood patiently in the elevator going down into the research Lab. The sudden stop didn't faze him and he stepped out once the doors came apart. He walked proudly in with his hands rested on his lower back. Several soldiers walked by with their hands in a salute. Prozen nodded them on. He made a few more turns down corridors and finally made it to a door with "ZOIDIAN" written on it in big bold letters. He opened the door with a key code and went inside. There he saw several scientists in lab coats preparing a table, and lining up surgery utensils, and different containers with fluids.

"So the preparations for her first experiment are ready?" Prozen asked, looking through the utensils again.

"Yes, I believe we are prepared. Bring her down her around 3:00 when all of our personnel are available and ready." The scientist said. Prozen nodded.

"Then I will be on my way then." He said strolling out of the room. The scientist sighed in relief. Prozen's presence always made the atmosphere around him tense and uneasy. Thinking his eyes could make anything spontaneously combust or if something went wrong he was blow a fuse and go on a dictator-like rampage.

Raven watched as he saw Reika pouring half of the syrup bottle on top of her pancakes. His left eye twitch slightly as he though of how _sweet_ that was going to taste, especially with the strawberries added to it.

"Um…You're certain you want _all_ of that syrup on them?" He asked taking a bite of his bagel. Reika nodded cheerfully, and put the syrup down and began eating. She took one bite and Raven cringed on the inside as he saw her unfazed by the enormous amount of syrup on it.

Raven saw a figure in the corner of his eye. He turned to his right and saw Prozen looming over them with mug in hand. He turned back to his food appearing aloof as always. Prozen took a chair next to them, and Raven saw a smug expression on his face as he looked to and fro at the adolescents.

"So I see my daughter is enjoying her breakfast." He stated. Reika looked over at him with her innocent smile. Prozen began making more small talk to Reika and some to Raven, other than that Raven tuned out most of the conversation. Prozen sat up partially. "Raven will you come join me for a moment; I see you're done eating so I'm sure I'm not disturbing you." He asked. Raven silently got up and followed Prozen to a balcony.

"What do you need?" Raven asked sourly.

"I need you to take Reika over to my office at 2:30 this afternoon." Prozen instructed.

"May I ask why?" Raven had a gut feeling about why he wanted her there.

"Her first appointment is today." He answered snickering.

"As in her experiments" _"Sick-minded bastard…"_ Raven inquired, secretly disguising his anger.

"I'd rather call it an appointment. Doesn't sound as cruel as experiment does." Prozen said. Raven gritted his teeth.

"I'll bring her around 2:30…" He said heading back to that table. His pleasant day was just ruined by this bit of information. He pulled up his chair next to Reika again and finished eating. Prozen waved at them as he went back to his office down the hall. Reika waved excitedly but Raven only crossed his hands in front of his face and shot deadly glares from behind.


	6. When the Clock stirkes the hour

Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

_When the Clock strikes the Hour_

Raven looked up anxiously at the clock tower in the distance. A quarter till 2'o'clock. His dread grew with every passing second, but he didn't let it show. He was walking slowly, almost like a trudge, through a garden in the palace. Reika was not far from his sight as she had a happy skip to her step with the Organoids right by her side. Raven gave an awkward smile as he saw her cheerfully dip herself down in front of a patch of flowers.

He scanned around and found a bench not far from where Reika was. Raven started walking towards the bench when Reika called to him.

"Raven! Please come here." She asked sweetly, right when he sat down. He gave a small groan and walked towards her and the Organoids, crouched down over a patch of flowers. He crouched down next to her and looked down at the daisy that a butterfly had perched itself on. "What is that?" She asked pointing at the butterfly.

"It's called a butterfly." Raven answered.

"What is it doing on top of the flower?" Reika asked again.

"It eats the nectar in the center of the flower." Raven answered. "That's why." Reika nodded. Raven got back up and went towards the bench again. Reika followed him and sat next to him on the bench.

"You have a promise to fulfill." Reika stated. She seemed to smirk a little. Raven sighed and relaxed in his seat.

"Oh darn. I figured you'd forget about that." He said. She shook her head in reply. "Well guys and girls can't see each other to change because they have different bodies and it isn't right to see those different parts." Raven explained.

"But you and I both have arms. And legs." She questioned. Raven sighed.

"Reika it's just inappropriate to change with a guy unless you're dating him." He added.

"What's dating? Are we dating?" She asked befuddled. Raven felt his face heat in embarrassment at her question and at his next thought.

_"I wish…"_ "No, we're not dating. Dating is when you give a person hugs and kisses and gifts because you….love them or like them more than others…" Raven stuttered.

"Well you got me flowers. And I also like you more than others." Reika stated questioningly.

_"I like you more than others too but…." _Raven's thoughts were jumping in his head and were giving him a major headache. "Yeah but it's really more than that…It's hard to explain Reika." They heard the clock tower echo in the background. Raven felt a sudden thump swell his chest and something stop his breath. "Prozen asked me to take you to his office around 3'o'clock. I told him I'd bring you at 2:30 to prevent any draw backs." He choked. Reika nodded.

"Okay." She got up after him and followed. Raven whistled for the Organoids nd they caught up to them.

Raven led them through winding corridors and finally ended up at Prozen's office at 2:45. Raven hung his low as he opened the door for Reika.

"Here you go Reika." He murmured. He jolted at her sudden sign of affection as she gave him a friendly hug. His head shot up and looked down with an unforgettable expression of confusion and enjoyment. His face turned scarlet and he stammered as he tried to tell her to let go.

"Thank you for the company and explanation earlier Raven." She let go and looked up.

"N-no problem?" He stuttered. He heard a light almost inaudible chuckle from Prozen as he closed the door. Luminescent tried going in but he directed her with him and Shadow.

Raven entered his room and immediately collapsed on his bed. He lied there facing the ceiling, just zoned. His expression blank and unreadable. The Organoids were playing over in the empty space in the large room. After a half an hour passed he sighed and held his head. He couldn't get the embrace she gave him out of his thoughts. Why did she hug him so suddenly? Was it because he mentioned it in the details of the dating explanation? How could not hug her back? How could he even let her walk into Prozen's without him or one of the Organoids to protect her from whatever tests they were going to perform? Whether they were harmless or not they didn't appear that way to him. He couldn't completely understand what he was telling himself during his explanation to her. How was she going to come out of that laboratory next time he saw her. He turned onto his side and sighed deeply. He could still feel her slender arms wrapped around his torso. _"Why can't I get over the fact she hugged me? It's a regular form of affection right? No meaning has to be behind it…but why can't I just block it out…"_ Raven thought. He got up off the bed and went to the window. He looked out for a couple moments. He leaned against the wall next to it just staring outside of it.

Then he heard the clock tower strike three thirty.

"Damned clock tower." He muttered aloud. The clock striking the time made him just a tiny bit more annoyed. His own decadence was getting on his nerves. Raven had no clue what was going on inside him and the changes he was going through.


	7. Because of

Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

_Because of…_

**AU: Sorry for all the delay I had major writers block and I had to start chapter 6 over twice. And I also apologize for the shortness of this chapter and if there are any mistakes made with the "A" Key and spaces. My A key has been moody and my space bar has been ripped off by my dog's attempt to shake while I had the laptop in my lap…**

Prozen didn't give Raven any heads up that night if he had to keep Reika company again. Raven started to refer to it as his privilege after he overheard another official call it that and threatened him till he explained himself. Though he gave off the impression it was a burden to him it really wasn't. Raven walked through the garden again, he left the Organoids so he could ventilate in solitude. He walked with his hung slightly, just enough to be sure of where he was heading, and his arms crossed. He walked around for a couple of hours before deciding to sit down. It was the afternoon when he found a pond to sit by.

He sat by the bank of it. Raven pulled his knees to him and leaned his head on them. He sighed and stared out at the calm water.

_"Why is it that every time I touch her my breath and heart rate change so suddenly? It's really aggravating me…"_ He thought. He clenched and fist. _"But to top that off as it aggravates me it makes me feel good…"_ He unclenched his fist. "So confusing…" He murmured softly. "How does she make me feel so _weak_…" Raven grimaced as he uttered the hated word. It rang in his head. He knew he wasn't weak, so why did he think he was?

_Weak, feeble, unprotected, attackable, wide open. _

All those words were all new to his own definition. He never considered himself any of those. Now suddenly he felt so vulnerable. All because of Reika. Because of Reika's disposition, because of her smile, because of her innocence, because of her touch, he felt so vulnerable.

He gave another deep sigh. He extended his legs out. Raven leaned back and his hand landed on a pebble. Instinctively he picked it up and skipped it in the pond. The ripples of its landings breaking the calmness of the water. Then he smiled. Raven actually smiled. A grin that wasn't filled with malice and cold heartedness. Finally he realized why he smiled. It was Reika's fault yet again.


	8. Flooding Memories

Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

_Flooding Memories_

Morning light peaked through Raven's window and shone on his eyes. His eyes fluttered a bit before they fully opened. He turned onto his side, gave a weak groan, and pressed his face into the pillow. He felt like going back to sleep, but something kept him from falling back into the unconscious state of mind. Raven had yet another confusing dream.

This time it was more vivid and tiring than the last. Explosions going on around him, everywhere you turned the only light source you'd find was the fire and heat of the bombardments. Smoke surrounded everything as well, pitch as night. Screams and shouts coming from all directions and then running. Raven was running. Then suddenly he tripped and flung his hands out in front of himself to catch his fall. He fell onto his stomach hard and was winded. He turned over on his back to see what exactly was going on. Raven stared up in we as a gigantic Zoid, loomed over the older looking buildings in the background. His eyes were transfixed on it in amazement. Imagining what it would be like to be the pilot of that monstrosity. He saw it fire a charged particle beam below itself at the carnage beneath it. A garnet red shone from its eyes. As if all the blood soaked into the ground in the gore fest around was absorbed into its very glimpse.

Though he had seen and caused his fair share of violence this dream disturbed him. He turned over onto his back and tried to get his thoughts of the dreams. Of course what other topic was going to override his dream thoughts than Reika. He felt a pang in his chest as he remembered he'd see her today, the first time after the testing. He wondered if they had just done verbal tests, maybe even some physicals or internal examinations. Those we're better than testing certain chemicals on her, or cutting her open. He grimaced and began to get slightly angry at the thought of them hurting her. He got out of bed and walked to the shower with a clenched fist. He disturbed Shadow's sound sleep at the foot of his bed. Shadow watched his master in confusion as he fumed silently to himself.

Prozen took a sip of his hot tea while sitting at his desk and sorting through the notations made during Reika's examinations. She was sitting silently by his side at the desk, looking over at the papers in her peripheral vision. Taking in slow breaths as she let her imagination take flight on what was written on the papers. She was missing Luminescent's presence and Raven's guardianship immensely right now. She knew she could trust Prozen, after all he was her father now.

"Raven will be here shortly to take you to breakfast sweetheart." Prozen stated coolly, not even bothering to look up from the paper. Reika nodded. She looked longingly and expectantly at the door. Moments to her passed like hours. Like an hourglass that only lets one grain of sand through at a time. Finally a knock was heard through the door. "Come in." Prozen boomed. Raven opened the door and let Luminescent dash into the office to greet Reika.

"Luminescent!" Reika shrieked delightfully embracing her Organoid. Raven hid his smile. She was in one piece and that relieved him of one stress.

"Good morning, Raven." Prozen greeted. Raven waved, not too keen on being polite today. Reika took her place outside the office door and bid farewell to Prozen until the evening. Raven closed the door behind him and Prozen smirked as he heard a thud.

Reika tackled Raven, he caught her sudden embrace with one arm and placed his other hand against the door with an abrupt thud. He blinked a couple times as she still was wrapped around him, and felt his face turn to at least a scarlet shade.

"Reika?" He managed to get out.

"I missed you." She replied to an unasked question. Raven was silent a moment. He had to admit he missed her too.

"It was a day…" Raven said. Reika let go and nodded.

"But still…" She stated, with a face that even Raven couldn't help but smile weakly at.

"It's ok. I…missed you too." Raven stuttered, trying to regain his composure and what sense of dignity he just lost in his stutter. Raven led her to the dining hall and pulled out a chair for her. "Do you want pancakes again?" Raven asked. Reika nodded and went into the line to get the food.

He retrieved their food and turned around to walk back to their table. He saw Reika looking out at the ground through the balcony they were seated next to. The sun shone on her fair skin and almost made it glow and shimmer. Raven snapped himself out of his daze and placed the pancakes in front of her. She snapped out of hers too and picked up her fork.

"Thank you, Raven." She said.

"You're welcome." He stuck his fork in his omelet. He looked up after taking a bite and saw that Reika didn't put as much syrup on the pancakes as before. It was actually an amount someone would normally put on. "Your not gonna put anymore on?" He asked slightly confused. Reika shook her head. The rest of their meal continued on in silence. Reika finished before Raven, she held her head up with her hands folded and appeared to be in deep thought. Raven noticed and finished eating. "Is there something on your mind Reika?" He asked. She snapped out of thought.

"What?"

"Is there anything on your mind?" Raven repeated. Reika stared back down at the table.

"Just some dreams." She answered, still seeming out in space. Raven's expression read more dejected, he knew there was something more to it than that. But he didn't press the issue seeing as she'd talk about it when she was ready.

Later that day Raven was assigned to the hanger to over look the mechanics fixing his Saber Fang. He led Reika, Luminescent and Shadow to the hangar and just watched from afar on the railings. The Organoids took it upon themselves to find a wide space to play in. Raven leaned on the railing looking over at the Saber Fang. Reika stood next to him, leaning onto the railing and on his right arm. Raven took in unnoticeably labored breaths as Reika messed up his circulatory system again. A couple of mechanics walked by them giving him odd looks, seeing as Raven was never close to _anyone._

"Raven," Reika caught his attention. Raven turned his head to face her. "Is it odd to be having dreams that inflict pain?" She asked. Her question took him by surprise.

"You mean a nightmare?" He asked confused. Reika shrugged.

"I do not know exactly. I know it was frightening." She stated. Raven instinctively took the arm she was leaning on and put it around her shoulder.

"Well it's normal to have a couple in a lifetime. What was it about?" He asked, seeming concerned. She squirmed a bit underneath his arm getting herself situated and comfortable.

"There was a gigantic Zoid…" She started. "It was very dark and black outside. There was screaming, and running, and explosions…" He felt her begin to shake under his arm. Raven wrapped it around her tighter.

"It's ok. I won't let anything like that harm you." His reflexes beat his thoughts again. He couldn't help the sentence that came out; he meant it but didn't want to say it. "_There has to be something they were doing to her in that lab…She's been a little different today._" Raven thought. "_Strange that we had a similar dream…_" He noted. He felt her shaking stop and her nod on his arm.

"Ok Raven." She replied to his vow.


	9. Teach me, I Teach You

Chapter Nine: Teach Me, I Teach You

**Au:**** Well, oops on my part because in the last chapter and maybe one before I called the **_**Zaber**_** Fang **_**Saber **_**Fang. And to sum this up so a few of you aren't confused cause I know I haven't seen the series in ages (I need to find a store that carries their DVD's) I gave him Zaber Fang in the beginning and not Genosaurer so I had to play in the fight with Van to get rid of Zaber. But Problem is now I don't know if I should or shouldn't put the fight between Raven and Van in here. **

**One.) Because I have no clip to have to write out an "official" description of the fight and **

**Two.) Is that copyright violation?**

**So if you review this and you have the clip for their fight on any site or downloaded to your computer could you please inform me? That would be really appreciated :) **

**SaHaRa**

**Chapter Nine: Teach Me, I Teach You**

It had been a couple of weeks after Reika's first examination and Raven was getting edgy thinking about what the next one would do. Prozen had told him to go to office before dropping Reika off that day.

Raven had brought her out to town again to pass the time. He heard the clock tower strike 3:30 as Reika was admiring the flower stand again. Raven didn't hesitate to buy her a few more flowers.

"Thank you Raven." Reika smiled wide and happily as he handed her the lilacs.

"Don't mention it, really." He replied. Around the palace, if he was watching her, he couldn't exactly be sweet and nice to her without gathering suspicious attention. But out here hardly anyone knew him. Raven was definitely not "himself" just around Reika so to speak. As they walked around town a little more, it began to get a little crowded by the food market. Raven reached his left hand back searching for Reika's and took in gently in his. "It's getting kinda hectic. So just hold onto my hand for the time being." He was used to his heart rate changing every now and then because of her. Reika clutched his hand stumbling along a bit. Raven pulled her along evading people.

Reika watched the people with curious forest green eyes. She looked around knowing Raven wouldn't lead her off trail. They both finally exited the crowd and found a not so crowded park. Raven led her in there and found a free bench and plopped down on it. They had been walking all day but Reika didn't show any sign of fatigue. Raven dropped her hand and rested his arms over the top of the bench and sighed.

"Long day…" He murmured. Reika giggled at him as he almost fell asleep on the bench. "Not funny…" He mumbled. Reika returned to her people watching. She rested her elbows on her knees and held her head. She looked around the park. She saw some small children playing around on the playground equipment. Then she scanned over to the walkway, and saw a young couple walking out of the park. She saw them reach the entrance and they hugged and she saw the girl plant a kiss on the guy's cheek. Reika looked at their direction in confusion.

"What was that?" She mumbled. Raven averted his attention to her.

"What was what?" He asked.

"A gesture the girl made to that boy." Reika answered.

"I'm sorry I didn't see but there are quite a few gestures, Reika." Raven said.

"Oh, ok." She replied. The clock tower struck 4:30. Raven sat up.

"Well we got to get back before dinner." Raven stated dully. Reika nodded and as they left the park they entered the crowd again. She clutched the flowers in one hand and Raven's hand in the other on the way back to the Zaber Fang.

Once they made it back to the palace at 5:15 he brought her up to Prozen's office and stood in front of his desk as Reika went to Prozen's side.

"You said you wanted to speak to me?" Raven stated coolly, crossing his arms. Acting the way he normally was.

"Yes I have a mission for you again." Prozen stated standing up. Raven looked at him, cross.

"Really? And it would involve what Prozen?" Raven asked again.

"Well it involves heading over to enemy shores." Prozen started. Raven rolled his eyes and looked away from Prozen. "And it involves fighting Van." Raven's eyes immediately shot over in Prozen's direction.

"I'm listening…" Raven growled. It was a low blow. Prozen knew how badly Raven wanted to fight Van.

"You need to go to the Mount Osa Base that's occupied by the republic. Then from there help the other units secure it." Prozen explained.

"Where's Van in all of this?" Raven asked, annoyed.

"I've heard that he will be there. He and his friends have been spotted there." He added. "Being Honest Raven you have no choice 'cause I'm going as well." Raven gritted his teeth.

"When am I being deployed?" Raven asked.

"In a couple of days you'll be over there before us. Then we'll leave." Prozen answered.

"Where is Reika going to be during all of this?" Raven asked.

"She is staying here of course. I wasn't prepared to bring her onto a ship and bring her anywhere near New Helic city." Prozen answered coolly.

"Ok then." Raven replied turning around and heading out the office door. Reika watched him, saddened to see he didn't want this mission but was forced into it anyway. Raven was walking fast pace down the corridors, practically emitting anger. "_At least she'll be safe here…_" He thought. "_And I get to challenge Van again…this ought to be interesting._" He added.

The next few days Raven was given off to prepare for the mission. He walked into the hangar and saw that his Zaber Fang was getting parts replaced and redone for Mount Osa. He glowered down over the railing as the mechanics worked.

"Raven?" Reika called out. He shot up and turned to face her, somewhat shocked to see her there. Luminescent towered over both of them.

"Reika? What are you doing down here?" He asked confused.

"Well, I went looking for you." She answered. "I have a question that only you can answer." She smiled, almost slyly. Raven chuckled a little.

"What is it?" He replied.

"I wanted to know if you could teach me how to pilot a Zoid, whenever you get back." Reika asked leaning next to him. Raven looked at her bewildered.

"W-what? Teach you how to pilot?!" He exclaimed loud enough for only them to hear. "Reika I just can't do that…Prozen would…_What if you got hurt_?" Raven struggled.

"Father doesn't have to know. I'd like to think of myself as a rather fast learner. With you as my teacher I couldn't get hurt." Reika explained her logic.

"Sure Prozen doesn't _have_ to know but even with me as your teacher something could go wrong." Raven argued back. "I'm sorry Reika I can't do that…I can't put your life at risk like that." He finished.

"I have Luminescent to protect me as well." Reika stated pointing back at Luminescent. She made a mechanical and animalistic sound. "Hasn't Shadow ever enclosed you inside of him?" She asked. Raven looked puzzled.

"No..." He answered. Reika soon looked disappointed. Raven in took a huge breath and let out a sigh. "I'll think about it while I'm out there alright." He answered. He watched her face light up. "But I'm not making any promises here." He tried to say sternly. Reika hugged him again, and he wasn't used to this still.

The next day he had to leave in the Zaber fang and head off from the Guylos empire to the Mount Osa Base near New Helic city, the Republics capitol. Raven grabbed a pistol and stuffed it into a holster on his hip. Just in case. He whistled to Shadow to come along and he slung a bag over his shoulder. He began making his way out of the palace corridors and into the hangar.

"Zaber Fang is ready to go." One of the husky mechanic men told him as he walked up to the cockpit. The cockpit opened up and Shadow jumped off the ledge and down at the Zaber Fang's feet. Prozen and Reika stood next to the cockpit and Raven as he tossed his rucksack into the cockpit.

"So you know what the objective is right?" Prozen asked.

"Yeah, don't worry Prozen I can multitask." Raven stated. Prozen nodded and began walking away. Raven put one foot onto the side of the cockpit.

"Raven…" He turned to see Reika walking slowly towards him. She leaned in a planted a light kiss on his right cheek. Raven felt his heart begin to race and his face turn the same shade of red as the mark on his face. "What does that gesture mean? I saw another girl do that to a guy while we were out at the park." She blushed slightly as well not knowing exactly what she was doing. "I thought that since she did that when they were parting ways it was appropriate for now." She mumbled. Raven placed a hand on his cheek, also trying to catch his breath.

"I-it is normally saved for people who are dating Reika…It's called a _kiss_." Raven finished.

"Oh that's right we aren't dating…" Reika said in an understanding tone. Raven felt his lip quiver a bit.

"You know…If you want…we can be dating…" He stuttered horribly. Reika smiled.

"You're going to have to tell me what that is when you get back." She answered smiling. Raven smiled back and leaned forward slowly and planted a small kiss on her lips.

"I can tell you right now that it's a very nice thing." He smiled _sweetly_ at her and hopped into the cockpit. As it closed they waved to one another and he started up the Zaber Fang and was on his way to Mount Osa.


	10. Uncovered but still Unknown

Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

_Uncovered but still Unknown_

It had been several days since Raven and Prozen had left for the attack on the Republic's capitol, New Helic city. She wandered aimlessly around the corridors, passing some other officials along the way. Some of them would whisper things in the other's ears as she walked by. Reika looked at them curiously and just continued on her way. She just assumed it as normal behavior. Reika found a balcony and looked out into the garden. Unbeknownst to her this was the same one Raven looked out of when Prozen called him down to talk about her.

Reika looked out at the dark filled night. The stars shone and twinkled in the midnight blue sky. Luminescent walked up beside her and gave a mechanical purr.

"I am fine Luminescent. I just miss Raven's company. I know you miss Shadow's." Reika pet the top of Luminescent's head as she went down to nuzzle her owner. She gave a whine and Reika laughed. "Raven will come back Luminescent. And so will Shadow. Ok you worry too much." Reika began to walk back down the corridors towards her room. She noted that the corridors were very empty and hollow, seeing as no one was awake at this hour. "Hey Luminescent." She started speaking to her faithful pet. "Maybe we could go to father's office and find out what's really on those sheets." Luminescent nodded then began making noises again. "What are you talking about, of course he's my father." Reika stated. Luminescent sighed.

They began walking in the opposite direction towards the office. Reika was quiet as a field mouse unlike Luminescent whose footsteps practically bellowed like church bells.

"Hey Luminescent, do you think Raven will really teach me how to pilot a Zoid?" She asked. Luminescent made a sound resembling "I dunno."

"What Zoid do you think I would get? A Hellcat? Maybe a Redhorn. Or a Redler!" Reika listed with enthusiasm. "I like the Redler best in that." Reika added. Luminescent chuckled at her. They reached office and slowly she opened the large creaky door and went inside. Reika walked the length of the room and went around the desk and sat in the chair. The chair was probably twice as big as her, the back loomed over her as she sorted through papers on his desk and opened a drawer. There she found a stack paper-clipped together in a manila folder with "Reika" scribbled on the front in black typing. She curiously picked up the manila folder and opened it to read the contents. Across the front of the paper it read "Reika Testing #1". She flipped the page. "Testing?" She stated aloud confused. She heard footsteps coming from down the hall. She let out a frightened gasp and hid underneath the desk as she heard the door handle turn. Luminescent hid behind the chair.

Several men in uniform came in single file and made their way through the office, chattering about something almost in a whisper.

"When will the next testing take place?" one asked another.

"Not exactly certain, Lord Prozen made it clear that he wants to be present for them." Another replied.

"Why is that, she's not really his-," the man was cut off by another's hushing.

"Quiet I heard something." He had stated fiercely. Reika held her breath, and held perfectly still, almost as if she was frozen in her capsule in the ruins again. She felt her heart begin to race incredibly fast and could hear it pounding in her head. Reika remained in control of her breathing as one of the men had come around the corner of the desk and almost peered underneath.

"Sir you must be going schizophrenic. We didn't heat anything." One of the men chuckled.

"Yeah guess your right." The other man stated dejectedly as he pressed a button and a secret door opened up into the next room beneath the office. The men filed out of the room and as soon as the door had suctioned shut Reika heaved a large sigh. She held the manila folder to her chest as she took in deep breaths.

"Come on Luminescent! We have to get out of here!" She breathed frantically to the Organoid and they dashed out of Prozen's office. They made their way back to Reika's room quickly and once they were there Reika had just fallen onto the edge of her bed. She hugged herself and Luminescent walked over to her and nuzzled her affectionately. Reika took in quick breaths and felt her head spin. She wasn't her father's what? What did this folder hold in store for her and her future? Was everything going to change as quickly as this event happened? If it was there was going to be a lot of moments like this.

"I can't seem to calm down Luminescent…No matter how hard I try everything is so confusing…" Reika whimpered. Luminescent said something to her as she nuzzled her. "That…might work.." Reika replied. Reika closed her eyes and pictured Raven sitting there next to her with a caring arm over her, and she felt her heart slow down and mind somewhat clear itself. She remembered the thing Raven had called a kiss and how different but good it felt when he had brushed his lips with hers. She missed him terribly.

Reika began to calm down and started to evaluate her options and what she should do. She glanced down at the folder clutched, now wrinkled by how hard she had clutched it. "_I should wait for Raven and father's return to bring this up. But who to ask?_" Reika thought. She opened it up and read a few lines and then it transferred into an unknown code and many words even before that were odd. She lied down and put the folder back together. "_I should wait for Raven. He might be able to answer both my questions._" Luminescent crawled onto the bed next to Reika. Reika pet her and relaxed a bit more with more thoughts of Raven. Thinking of Raven reminded her of their deal about him teaching her to pilot. She stuffed the folder underneath her pillow and crawled into the sheets, fully dressed and just dozed off trying to forget the night full of events.


	11. In Too Deep

**Chapter eleven**

_In too Deep_

Raven stared down at Fiona, Colonel Krueger and Moonbay from the Zaber Fang cockpit.

"You know, I hate picking on weaklings but I'm just trying to kill some time here." Raven stated icily.

"Yeah well then why don't you have a rematch with me?" Van's voice echoed from behind them. Raven turned his attention towards the Shield Liger. "C'mon." Van carried on. Raven jumped up onto the ledge of the Mount Osa volcano.

"So nice to see you again Van. You won't be getting away from me this time." Raven announced.

"Raven, you're not really gonna fight with that damaged Zaber Fang are you? Van inquired. Raven scoffed.

"Think of it as a handicap to make it a fair fight." He added.

"Ugh, don't you ever give the cocky attitude a rest?" Van retorted.

"Yap, yap, yap. Are we gonna duke it out or not?" Raven replied lunging forward for a swipe at the Shield Liger. Van took the Shield liger back and demanded Zeke for a counter attack. Raven dodged both counter-fire he shot at him. "Ha. That worked _once_ so now you're gonna stick with the same little trick?"

"Fine how bout this!" Van charged at Raven while the Pteras fired at the volcano trying to induce the eruption. The ground began to shake violently, and magma poured out of the area fired upon. Finally the eruption began and the lava shot into sky from the mouth. Van and Raven stood upon the lip of it.

Marcus sat in his Iron Kong demanding his men to stand their ground as their combat systems froze due to the volcanic activity. Major Schubaltz began to urge him out but Marcus was a fool and was killed by the eruption.

Van and Raven met midair in close combat. Both landed on opposite sides, Raven back flipped to keep the Zaber fang steady.

"Hey Van it's unfortunate for you that Shadow and I prefer close combat." Raven snickered.

"Oh yeah well guess what? It just so happens that Zeke, the shield liger and me like close combat too." After saying this Van activated his shield. Raven charged forward and jumped right into the Shield. The claws of the Zaber fang sank into it and began to tear apart.

"Urgh…Useless Zoid can't you get your strength back after such minor damage?!" Raven cursed. "I will tear through your shield just you wait!" He shouted.

"Raven stop if you keep pushing it the Zaber fang will be destroyed!" Van urged as the head of the Zaber Fang pushed in.

"If it means that I can beat you then I can live with that." Raven replied coolly. The Zaber fang was malfunctioning in many areas and being torn apart. Suddenly Raven remembered who he had to go home to. "Shadow!" He shouted, and soon after Shadow had encased him inside and saved him from the wreckage of the Zaber Fang.

It was bright, blinding and it stung his eyes. Even if they were closed shut the light seemed to escape Raven's natural defenses. Shadow opened up the safety restraints he had on Raven inside of him. Raven stumbled out and landed on his feet in a daze, blinking wildly.

"_Was that what Reika was talking about?_" He thought initially. He averted his attention to the explosion of his Zaber fang in the distance. He glared, pointlessly, in its direction. Images of the fight were passing through his mind and the only thought going through his mind at this moment in time was when he was going to see Van again to snatch away his pride with a victory. "Well I guess that's as much as that Zoid could take." Raven managed to get out. "What a total disappointment." He stated walking off, beckoning Shadow with him.

_

Raven sat quietly in the jeep next to Prozen, dust flew around them and Prozen kept complaining to him to slow it down. Raven adjusted the goggles on his face to keep the sand out of his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest and began keeping his end of the deal to Reika.

"_What is the real reason she wants to learn to pilot? I can't fathom why she would just want to learn out of the blue like that. And if I teach her what happens if or when we get caught? What would be the excuse? What happens if Luminescent fails to rescue her in an accident?_" Raven thought staring off into the empty desert. He didn't shift for such a long time you would've assumed he was a statue. The day went on in the same matter, driving through dust and sand on the way back to the empire. It was only a few more hours until they reached the capitol.

__

Reika paced at the balcony over looking the vehicle entrance to the palace. So many questions raced through her mind all at once. What was Raven going to say about her sneaking in and getting the folder? What was he going to say and was he going to answer her questions? Most importantly were her comforting words to Luminescent the day they stole the folder true? Raven was going to be ok, she reminded herself over and over. She looked out over the horizon at the setting sun and saw jeeps in the distance. She dashed to the railing and looked out. She scanned the vehicles for the Zaber Fang but it was no where to be found. Reika felt something tug at her chest, like a fifty pound weight tied to a piece of thin thread. The Zaber Fang not being there was not a good omen. She rushed to the hangar with Luminescent and anxiously awaited the jeeps, and hopefully some good news.

Reika leaned over the railing on the stairs to the hangar precariously. The first jeep drove in and she was off down the stairs. She was at the floor of the hangar when she saw Prozen and Raven step out of the vehicle. Reika gave an enormous sigh of relief and hurried over to them.

"Raven! Father!" She shouted towards them. Raven's head was the first to turn in that direction. He smiled and caught her in the sudden embrace.

"Well, I missed you too." Raven whispered to her as she attempted to suffocate him with affection.

"I didn't see the Zaber Fang and I thought the worst had happened!" Reika almost cried. Raven comforted her as Prozen came around to them.

"Shh…It's ok now, we're back" Raven whispered again. Reika let go of the embrace and gave him a relieved smile. She went over and greeted Prozen as well and Raven escorted her back to her room.


	12. Plots in Action

**Sahara: NO WORRIES I DIDN'T FORGET :D How could I forget about this you guys all leave me such wonderful reviews. I wanted to to thank you guys for your patience with me because I suffer from some serious writers block and "School stress" related problems so much. I finally got a new laptop for Christmas and it works so well, I don't think I'll have that whole issue with moving everything around for a while *yay* anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter, I had fun trying to figure out what it would be like to pilot a Zoid :)**

_Plots in action_

"Just as I promised you I'd think about it, I finally came to a decision while I was at Mt. Osa." Raven stated. Reika stood with Luminescent with suspense making their anxious feelings grow more impatient. "I will teach you how to pilot a Zoid." Raven finally said.

"Yay!" Reika jumped for joy and embraced her Organoid and then Raven. "Thank you, thank you!" She graciously thanked him with kisses on his cheek. Raven was thanking himself by telling her this in her bedroom, seeing as he would've been severely embarrassed by her display of affection.

"You're first lesson is today. You're going to be learning in a Redler." Raven told her as she finally let go of him.

"Really? That's wonderful." Reika said.

"Now, I can only teach you so much, Prozen has something planned for me today. It involves me getting a new Zoid." Raven stated as he led her and the Organoids out of the room and escorted her to the hangar where the Redler sat in waiting. Reika was so excited she could hardly contain herself.

Once they reached the hangar Raven got into the zoid first. It was a burgundy colored Redler, a flying zoid. Something Reika was definitely new to. She had never been in the sky. Raven helped Reika into the cockpit and she sat in the pilot's seat.

"Ok Reika once we take off Luminescent will fuse with the Redler to aid you if something bad happens." Raven informed her. Reika nodded and took the controls. "I'm also on co-pilot here, I can switch the controls with this switch right here just in case." Raven added.

"Ok so how do I start it?" Reika asked.

"Do you see the cord to your right? The one with the handle?" Raven asked. Reika looked down at the right and placed her hand on it.

"Yes."

"Pull it and twist it." Raven instructed again. Reika did as told and the Zoid whirred to life. "Seat belt." Raven added. Both of them clicked them into place. Reika excitedly gripped the controls of the Redler. Raven picked up a microphone installed in the back of the front seat and clicked the button.

"Raven to control, preparing to take off in Redler number one-two-five-six." Raven boomed in the hangar.

"Control to Raven, you are clear." A man in the control room replied as the zoid began to lift up on a platform. Several panels in the ceiling parted to let the Redler take off.

"Ok Reika once you don't see the hangar roof anymore I want you to pull up on the controls and press your right foot down on the pedal." Raven instructed. Reika watched intently out the window.

"At the same time, Raven?" She asked sounding a little anxious.

"Yes. Once you do that Luminescent will come out of the hangar and fuse with the Zoid." Raven replied. Reika nodded.

"Ok." She said. She no longer saw the Hangar roof and the platform had ceased in lifting the Redler. She pulled the controls back and stepped on the right pedal. The Redler let out a cry and sped off of the platform. Reika pulled the controls back a bit more and she was off in the air. Luminescent was waiting down below and ready to go. Reika and Raven flew over her and they heard her cry out before shooting up in a purple beam to fuse with the Redler. Reika felt her organoid companion inside the Zoid.

"Now Reika, you have to trust yourself with piloting as much as you trust your organoid with your life." Raven coached. "Can you feel Luminescent in the Redler?"

"Yes I can." Reika responded. "I can feel her power coursing through it."

"Now I want you to harness her power." Raven told her. "The left pedal controls the boosters in the back. Redler were meant for speed and attack but I'm going to show you their defensive attributes." Raven explained. "Press down on the left pedal, and turn to controls slightly to the right." Reika did as she was told. The Redler had turn over sideways in the air. "Now turn left." It had switched sides. "Now do both one after the other." Reika did as she was told and the Redler appeared as though it was dodging missiles. "One thing about being a pilot, especially in the air, is being an elusive target. So now turn around and straighten your course."

"Ok." She replied doing as instructed. "How do I be an elusive target?"

"You need to fly in patterns. Zig-zags, loops, swooping, anything to not sit still and be a sitting duck." Raven answered. Reika then took his advice and began weaving in and out of clouds. He let her keep up the evasion practices for another ten minutes then he picked up his radio and contacted control.

"Raven to control. Do you copy?" Raven began.

"Control to Raven we copy. What is your status?" Control replied.

"We're going to come in for a landing. Are we clear? Over." Raven inquired.

"Ok, you are clear. Over." Control responded.

"Thank you. Raven out." He finished. He clicked the radio off and placed it back into the installation. "Ok Reika for landings you need to ease up on the right pedal and pull the controls forward to go down. Go back to the hangar and they'll have the run way set up for the landing on the roof again." Raven instructed.

"Ok..." Reika responded a little disappointed she couldn't pilot more today. She turned the Redler around and went straight back to the hangar. She landed well on the runway, only managing to scare one of the men flagging her down. The platform brought her down back into the hangar and they both exited the Zoid. Luminescent left the Zoid with another purple flash, and immediately went to nuzzle and give affection and congrats to her Zoidian companion.

"Wasn't that the most amazing thing Luminescent?" Reika asked her pressing her face into her organoid's excitedly. Luminescent responded with cheerful grunts and nuzzles. Raven watched and gave a small smile at Reika's happiness. He's glad he decided to teach her, now that he could see the war was going to the very heart of the lands.

"C'mon Reika let's go. Your father doesn't want me to be late." Raven didn't care about Prozen's impatience. He just wanted to see what new Zoid Prozen could have possibly conjured up for him.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

So Raven you've finally arrived." Prozen stated as Raven walked slowly towards him, standing in front of a test-tube like chamber.

"Cut to the chase Prozen. What new Zoid have you been babbling on about?" Raven inquired. Prozen beckoned him over to the chamber. Raven peered inside and saw a raptor like zoid sitting there in the chamber, almost like it was incubating.

"It's called a Genosaurer. And I need you to pilot it for me." Prozen answered. Raven looked at it with minuscule awe.

"What can it do?" Raven asked sounding bored with it already.

"We will test that out tomorrow." Prozen said walking away. "When you demonstrate for some of the generals." He added. Raven rolled his eyes and turned around to follow Prozen. He took one last glance at it, and saw its eyes glow red. His eyes went wide as he remembered the nightmare he and Reika shared.

"Reika…" He muttered. He quickly hid his anxiety with his stoic persona and followed Prozen out of the lab. "_One of these days Prozen…_" Raven thought to himself.


	13. GenoBreakdown

**Chapter Thirteen. **

_Geno-Breakdown. _

Raven sat in the cockpit of the Genosaurer, waiting for Prozen to announce the unveiling of the new zoid. He was to demonstrate the power and show off the capabilities of it in combat. Reika, unfortunately, is with Prozen in the crowd of generals and commanders.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the newest addition to our collection of Zoids, the Genosaurer." Prozen announced with a new tone on the name. Reika's eyes went wide, like she knew the name. Raven sighed as he saw the gates opening up for him to take the few steps forward. He stepped out of the gates in the Genosaurer with Shadow trotting along. "It is piloted by none other than our prized pilot Raven, and his Organoid Shadow." Prozen announced as well. Reika stared at the Genosaurer in shock. She saw the cockpit eyes were purple, and not red like the one in her nightmare. But it looked so familiar. The Genosaurer let out a loud, thundering roar, and Reika cringed in her seat. "Now, now Reika it's ok. The Genosaurer is on our side." Prozen tried to comfort her quietly.

"Prozen how do you intend to show us this Zoid's power?" One of the generals stood up and asked.

"I'm glad you asked that General. Allow me to show you, or allow Raven to show you." Prozen answered. Prozen brought a walkie talkie up to his face. "Bring them in." He muttered. More metallic gates opened and 4 Rev Raptors walked in roaring and growling.

Raven closed his eyes to concentrate. Shadow fused with his new Zoid in a black streak. Raven felt Shadow's power fused with the Genosaurer's. He opened his eyes to see his opponents.

"Watch as our talented Pilot takes these four Rev Raptor sleepers out in a matter of moments!" Prozen boomed. Raven put the Genosaurer in gear and brought the claws out on it. He activated the boosters seconds afterward and flew by the Raptors and sliced through their necks like they were nothing. Then after stopping on the fourth one turned back around to fire lasers directly into each of their legs and sending them all out of commission. Some in the crowd oo-ed and awed at the spectacle of how fast it moved. Others however were not moved by its power thus far.

"Bring in the Kongs next. This will sell them." Prozen muttered again. Reika looked back forth from Prozen to Raven nervously. She wasn't enjoying this show of power. She knew Raven was a Zoid pilot but never ever acknowledged the fact that the war did bring out a violent side to a pilot. She wondered why he was doing this, or how he got that good at destroying in battle.

Raven could feel his tension growing and growing. He didn't want Reika to ever see him fight. He knew well how Van's Zoidian friend was, and assumed Reika was going to be the same way. He saw it in the Genosaurer's eyes the night before as well. It resembled the monster Zoid in his and her nightmares. This must have been a part of her memory that came back when Prozen brought her in for experimentation. He wanted to just hop out of the cockpit and escape this rotten royal feud and take Reika with him. Two red and black Iron Kongs came from the gates, with sleep systems engaged.

"This next demonstration is of the charged particle beam canon. Watch and observe what it can do to two Iron Kongs and imagine what it could possibly do in battle with the Republic." Prozen explained. Raven set the canon up in the cockpit and Shadow pushed more energy into it. The Genosaurer was preparing on the outside as well. It had released kickstand like projections on the feet into the stadium dirt, and outstretched its tail and fans. The front end canon in the mouth began to glow and eerie pink, purple color and a ball of energy grew inside. Suddenly the Genosaurer let the beam go and the two Iron Kongs were history when the smoke cleared. It now caught the attention of the entire crowd of military officials.

Raven was now tired and fed up with this, he turned the Genosaurer around and went back into the gates. Reika watched in horror as he left. She looked back at the Iron Kongs and felt a pang reverberate in her heart.

She didn't know Raven was capable of this, but everyone else seemed to know.

Prozen was busy basking in his glorious find of the Genosaurer.

Raven pounded his clenched fists against the control panel in the cockpit, cursing to himself. "Damn it! I hate him! I hate him! How could he put her out there to watch that?" Raven growled. He opened the cockpit and jumped out. Shadow left the Genosaurer and followed Raven loyally. Raven clenched and unclenched his fists. "_One of these days Prozen you are going to pay dearly._" He thought with every bit of malice a person could possibly place in a thought. "Shadow," Raven called. Shadow hurriedly ran to his side. "You as my witness, I will _never_ pilot that monstrosity in Reika's presence ever again."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Sahara: I apologize for the shortness of the chapter but I do hope you enjoyed it. I'm glad I finally got to squeeze the Genosaurer in here and as future reference I'm going to skim the episodes where Van and company had Rudolph. I'm going to really keep it focused on our couple growing here in the Capitol but I'm not going to cut the Royal dramatics out of the picture, after all it wouldnt make sense without Raven collecting those Zoid cores right? Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. :)**


	14. Foresights in a Fortnight

**Chapter Fourteen.**

_Foresight in a Fortnight. _

Raven tried to push the memories of Rosso and Viola from the front of his mind to the very back. He had really begun to think differently since Reika entered his life. He knew Prozen was going to take the abduction in to his advantage. He peered out over the balcony railing again and watched the false dawn begin. He couldn't sleep at all last night; too much was running through his mind. Prozen's plots, taking care of Reika, it was just becoming too much.

He had to take preparations for the worst. What if Prozen's plans for world domination/annihilation or whatever he desired to do worked? What if they failed and the Republic took over? He was sure he would be the first on their most wanted list. Along with anyone in the palace.

But what could he possibly do to prepare? He rested his head on his crossed arms that leaned upon the railing, still observing the false dawn. He looked up at the sky and saw the two moons. Half of their dark sides were showing, while the other halves were visible. Raven scoffed at a romantic fool's thought.

"If life is as beautiful as the moons, then I must be stuck on the dark side of the moons." He laughed. Raven watched as the sun slowly peeked over the horizon. Shadow lingered in the hallway behind him. "_Prozen told me I have 5 days to a week to get ready to be deployed again. Except this time I'll just be out there to destroy Zoids so he can pick up Zoid cores._" Raven began to think again. "_So if I take Reika out at least once all these days I could teach her how to get away safely and if need be….how to defend herself._" Raven sighed. "_She's so innocent…I wish I didn't have to teach her how to kill._" He thought sadly, imagining her warm smile. "But you have to, don't you?" He asked himself aloud, backing away from the balcony edge as the sun rose. He watched the sun rise a little longer and then began to walk away. He had to go see her, he had to convince her he wasn't just a heartless killing machine, but just a pawn in a game of War.

Reika sighed as she fidgeted with her fingers, sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her hair was down and she was still in her night gown. The morning sun beamed and illuminated the room and Luminescent was still asleep. She pulled the manila folder out from underneath her pillow and opened it up and viewed some of its readable contents. She flipped through the pages and paused to read the things she could. She found an interesting page at the same moment someone knocked on the door. She quickly slipped it back underneath the pillow.

"Come in!" She called. Raven walked in with Shadow trailing behind him. He shut the door and glanced over at her.

"You're not ready yet?" Raven stated. Reika looked down at her feet. "Any particular reason? You were overly excited to learn how to pilot today." Raven asked.

"Yes, I was…I just got lost in thought is all." Reika stated; the effort to sound happy was apparent in her voice. Raven sat down next to her, and looked her in the eyes.

"You know how I explained to you that we are…dating…now?" Raven started. She nodded. "Well people who are close like this tell each other what's wrong, and why they feel the way they do. Reika I feel like killing something seeing you put up this front. What's wrong?" Raven inquired.

"There was something that I found while you and father were away. I know I shouldn't have been in his office and that I shouldn't have taken it but…" Reika looked up now, Raven now looked curious.

"Took what exactly Reika?" Raven implored.

"This…" Reika pulled the folder out from her pillow again. She handed it to Raven. "I was going to show you earlier but you had to go away to find Rudolph." Raven flipped through the pages as Reika had done before he came in. He felt his blood boil a bit at one point when he found out what had touched her innocence from before. They put her under anesthetics and placed her near the Death Saurer. This had to be what caused those nightmares she had the night afterward. It brought back the images far beneath in her unconscious. Raven tossed the folder over beside Luminescent and embraced Reika.

"Listen, right now I have more than what I should be telling you. Prozen isn't really your father. It's all been an act to make sure you gave the empire what they wanted. Rudolph's supposed assassination was a plan to place him on the throne. You're a survivor from the ancient times that something was set out to destroy and I found you in the ruins the day before you came here. And ever since that day I fell in love with you and nothing will ever keep me from protecting you." Raven admitted everything he was keeping from her. He took a deep breath in and held her tighter.

"I figured he wasn't after I found this. Luminescent has been telling me this the entire time but I never believe her because my eyes had a wall thrown over them making life seem so much simpler than it really was." She embraced Raven back. "What is going to happen if he takes the throne?" Reika asked.

"I'm not entirely certain. But all I know is now that you know you're in greater danger than before. Don't let anyone know that you know now. I promise that after I'm done teaching you how to pilot a Zoid well I'm getting you out of here before anything can happen to you." Raven stated. He pulled back from their embrace and cupped his hands on her cheeks. He could see the fright frame her face and the fear gather in her eyes. "I'm going to teach you today, tomorrow, and the days following until I have to leave to do more dirty work for that bastard. But I promise that when I get back from some of those trips I will make sure that Prozen or any one else for that matter can't lay even a finger on you." Raven told her. She nodded. Raven leaned in and kissed her on the lips, and let his linger there for a moment. He felt his heart rate pick up drastically. After a slight pause he made the kiss slightly more compassionate. Reika and Raven both let tiny moans escape and then broke off the kiss for air. Raven looked right into her eyes again. "Reika…I…" he started to stammer. "I…Love you." Raven said softly.

"If what I feel around is what you call 'love', then I love you too." Reika replied. She leaned in and rested her head on his left shoulder as he placed his left arm over her. "Did I say it right?" She asked with a nervous tone to her voice. Raven gave a small laugh.

"_She's so cute when she's clueless like this._" Raven thought. "Reika, there is no wrong way to say 'I love you'." He answered.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ok Reika the red buttons on the top of the controls are for firing the laser guns mounted on the chest of the Redler. Once the targets down below are in view, I want you to press the left one to ready the sights, and then the right one to fire." Raven instructed. Reika began to fly the Redler down a little. She saw the two specs on the ground that were the targets and pressed the left button. Sighting lines popped up on the screen and lit up once they aligned with the targets. She then pressed the right one and fired two laser shots at the targets. They burst into flames instantly. "Good job, you got the targets. Lets go back in for now you've done enough maneuvers today. I can do more with you tomorrow." Raven told Reika.

"Got it." Reika replied as she turned around and made a very smooth landing back on the landing pad.

"You were right when you said you were a fast learner Reika." Raven stated as they were getting out of the cockpit.

"Thank you." Reika replied happily. "I'm glad I've got a teacher like you, Raven." Raven just nodded, he took note of the people in the hangar who may have seen him at his weakest. He still couldn't show much affection inside the palace. Or at least outside of one of their rooms.

Raven escorted Reika back up to her room, with Luminescent and Shadow not far behind. "I have to go get debriefed for my deployment in the next two days. So I will come by early tomorrow morning and get you to go practice." Raven informed Reika.

"Ok Raven." She said. "I look forward to our next practice session." She added smiling sweetly at him as they reached her door. Raven opened the door for her and Luminescent walked in first. Reika gave Raven another peck on the lips and walked into her room. Raven smiled at her as she walked in and waved her off to go speak to Prozen.

"Prozen will love to hear about this…" one hiding officer murmured to himself manically as he stayed hidden behind a support pillar. "Raven's got a weak spot after all."

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_**2 days later…**_

Raven didn't sleep again. His thoughts were plagued with anxiety over his departure of the palace in such a crucial point in time. He sat up in his bed staring at the canopy set up over it. He sighed and turned over onto his side, attempting to get comfortable. All he could think about was Reika. No thoughts of killing Van or murdering Prozen came to his mind. He was going to miss out on helping her practice, and dare he assume it, an attack on the palace. He was certain that something terrible was imminent with Prozen taking the throne.

Now the murdering thoughts were coming back. Raven clenched a fist and felt a strong urge to strangle Prozen. Raven wanted Prozen to die a slow, excruciatingly painful death. Even after death he wanted this man to suffer in anyway possible.

"_I swear, Prozen will pay somehow someway…_" He thought. Then he remembered something more important. Keeping Reika safe. He would have to make semi-frequent stops in his deployment to assure himself on her safety. He saw the light from the moons shine through the sheer curtains. He got up and looked out the window at them once again. The clouds were moving off of them, letting the light side of them shine down, and let life seem as beautiful as them.

Raven walked down the corridors to Reika's room later that morning. He was getting ready to leave soon. He had a rucksack filled with some supplies slung over his shoulder and Shadow following close behind. He knocked on her door and she let him in quickly. After she shut the door behind him he dropped his bag and embraced Reika tightly.

"Must you go?" Reika pleaded.

"Unfortunately…" Raven replied. "I promise I will stop by as many times as I can and if I cannot then I will write to you." Raven promised.

"But fath-, I mean Prozen cannot know about us, can he?" Reika inquired confused.

"He won't. I'll tell whoever I give them to, to give them directly to you." Raven answered. "He can't know, or he'd use you against me." Raven added. Reika nodded. Raven kissed her again like he did days ago when he had explained to her everything that was going on. They both put enough passion in their kiss that could put Romeo and Juliet to shame. Raven broke off first to speak. "You don't have to see me off, since I know how much you…detest…the Zoid I'm stuck with piloting." Raven stated hiding his sadness. Reika nodded. He kissed her again quickly and then picked up his belongings. "C'mon Shadow it's time to go." Raven called. Shadow was giving his own goodbye to Luminescent. Raven left her room waving goodbye, and slowly shutting the door.

Reika went back to sit on the bed and Luminescent leaned down beside her.

"It is going to be hard without them here, isn't it Luminescent?" Reika confirmed with her Organoid. Luminescent responded with her own noises. "I hope he is okay out there. I am certain he and Shadow will be fine though." She looked up at her Organoid with a tear rolling down her cheek.

Raven was already hating the distance and he wasn't even ten miles away from the city yet. He had the boosters on the Genosaurer on full blast now trying to get away so he could just dull and ease the pain later by not seeing the place with the memories tied to it.

"This is going to be a very, very, long trip. Isn't Shadow?" Raven asked his own companion as they set off on Prozen's dirty errands.

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**~Sahara: Yeah, I don't think I could've gotten it any sappier. I'm getting very close to the end of the story but fear not I have a sequel on my mind :). The next chapter should be up soon so I hope you enjoyed this one. **


	15. Reika, Ready?

**Chapter Fifteen. **

_Reika, Ready?_

It had been several days after Raven had left the palace. Reika wandered the halls with Luminescent, seemingly lost. Reika and her companion wandered their way into the hangar and looked around at all the Zoids ready to be deployed. She found her Redler and looked up at it. She looked down at her attire, and thought a dress just was not going to cut it today. She began to walk back to her room silently with her organoid at her side.

She entered her room again to change into the piloting suit she had gotten for the practices. Raven never forbade her from practicing with just Luminescent. She slipped herself into the purple shaded suit and left the room and headed back to the hangar. Once she made it back she went up the hangar for her Redler. One of the mechanics who worked in the hangar walked up to her cleaning off a tool of his.

"Aren't you the girl that creepy boy Raven came in here with to fly that there Redler?" He asked. Reika turned her attention to him.

"Yes I am. Could you please set the Redler up for take off for me?" Reika asked. The mechanic gave her a puzzled look.

"You positive you can fly that thing by yourself?" He asked again. Reika nodded.

"I have my Organoid in case anything happened to me." Reika replied.

"You want a layout on this Zoid so you can learn how to utilize it? I'm sure Raven didn't go over everything, kid goes off all the time never finishes anything…" The mechanic asked muttering the last half of his sentence.

"Please do." Reika responded.

"C'mon over here then. I'll set it up for take of and show you everything on it you should know 'bout it." The mechanic said. The Mechanic led Reika over to a panel and had moved the Redler down onto the launch pad for her. They both walked down the stairs to the Zoid and he began his tutorial.

"The thrusters here in the back have been modified to go past the maximum speed of mach three and into mach four. The armor has been matched to it to make sure it can handle the force with that speed. The sensors also are a little more sensitive than a regular Redler. Otherwise your arsenal is pretty much standard except for the guns mounted on the chest." The mechanic went over. Reika soaked in all the information, and wondered why Raven never told her the entire capabilities of this Redler.

"If you do not mind me asking sir, why does this Redler even have the customizations added onto it?" Reika inquired.

"Well your beau Raven there had asked us to customize it for you as a precaution. That's what he said at least." The Mechanic answered shrugging.

"Precaution for what?" Reika asked again. He shrugged.

"I'm not sure sweetheart but he requested it, and I did it." He answered. Reika nodded, trying to remember if Raven said anything about the modifications, or why he made them.

"Thank you very much for showing me the Redler more sir. Would I be clear for take off?" Reika asked.

"Of course! Get in there and I'll go up to control. I'm sure you know how to call in control to land and take off right? Must have heard your beau do it a million times." The mechanic said. Reika nodded and climbed up into the Redler. The mechanic made his way back up the stairs and into the control room.

Reika got settled into the Redler. She revved it to life and Luminescent fused with it. She picked up the radio and clicked the button.

"This is Reika to control, ready for take off, over." Reika started.

"This is control, you're all clear, over." The Radio clicked off as the platform began to rise and the ceiling panels opened. She reached the top and took off like she did the previous times with Raven.

"_Why would Raven have the Redler equipped like this? I can go faster than the maximum speed of a regular one, have upgraded armor and sensitive sensors, but standard arsenal?_" Reika thought. Then she remembered on the first day how he had said he was showing her the defensive attributes to the Redler. She finally pieced it together. Raven wasn't trying to teach her how to pilot to fight, he was teaching her how to get away safely. Question now was, why get away?

Over the next week Reika went on her own everyday for hours to practice in offense in the Redler. The sensors upgrades made it easy to target, even the moving practices targets. She learned how to use the blade hidden on the tail by practicing on the clouds instead of ground targets, so she wouldnt risk the fatality of a crash.

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Reika was just relaxing on a bench in the Palace Garden. Luminescent was sniffing about the flowers, trampling on some accidentally. Reika moved her bangs from her face and placed them behind her ear. She closed her eyes and imagined piloting the Redler again. Soaring through the clear blue sky. She loved the rush of going through the clouds, swooping and rolling in the air. She enjoyed every minute in the cockpit.

Her daydream was interrupted by someone coughing to grasp her attention. She opened her eyes and saw Prozen standing before her.

"Oh good afternoon father, how are you on this lovely day?" Reika asked.

"Good afternoon to you as well Reika. I'm doing all right." Prozen replied somewhat robotically. "May I ask what has been going on between you and Raven?" He asked, seemingly interested. Reika immediately put on her front.

"What ever do you mean father?" Reika responded innocently confused.

"One of the palace officers has informed me that he saw you and Raven kissing a couple of days before he left. Is this true?" Prozen asked. Reika was speechless. Someone saw them? They didn't see the officer, was he spying on them?

"Father, why on Zi would Raven and I kiss?" Reika asked sounding as innocent as she usually did.

"So, you're saying that a very loyal officer of mine is making this up?" Prozen clarified. Reika nodded.

"Yes he most certainly is father." Reika added. "I do not understand why someone would do such a horrid thing and lie about Raven and I that way." She added. Reika kept on milking her fib, hoping that Prozen wouldn't catch on. Prozen nodded.

"I don't know why either Reika dear, but I will see that he is punished for slandering yours and Raven's names like that. Seeing as you two are _not_ together like he implies." Prozen answered sounding somewhat smug, turning around to walk away. "I will see you later on tonight at dinner. Good bye dear." Prozen stated, he was smiling behind her back, very sure of himself.

Reika gulped and let out an exasperated sigh. That was close; even now it's still close. She was certain Prozen knew now, but all she could do was lie her way through this. To let Prozen know for sure about her and Raven, was giving Prozen to power to control whatever Raven did. Luminescent walked over to her and started to mumble her own opinion.

"Yes I agree with you, he is a very terrible man." Reika then began to feel something bubble in her heart and stomach. She didn't like this feeling, it brought up bad emotions. "Luminescent, why do I suddenly feel angry talking about Prozen?" Reika asked. Luminescent grunted a reply. "I hate him? What is hate?" Reika asked confused. Luminescent demonstrated it by stomping on a flower. "I do not like this hate…but I cannot help but hate him when he tries to hurt people's feelings." Reika explained. Luminescent responded to her again. "How is something like this…natural?" Reika question. Luminescent shrugged and made sound similar to the sound of "I dunno".

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reika was once again in the air in the Redler. It was two days after Prozen had inquired about her and Raven's secret relationship. She was testing out the upgrades on the thrusters. Reika had learned every switch on the control panel and in the cockpit by now. She knew what the triggers were for the guns mounted on the chin and chest, the switch that engaged the blade, the lever that retracted and spread the wings for dive bombs and landing, along with the motions used to hover. She had it down like sixth sense. She placed the Redler in the last gear and it was speeding off going into mach 4. A speed where most Redler models would have given out or been unable to reach. Reika enjoyed the speed and the rush it gave her.

"_Whoohooo!_" She shouted overjoyed. She began to spiral, and loop in the air. She brought the thrusters down and caught her breath. "That was fun, was it not Luminescent?" She heard her friend give a roar of approval from the core. Then her Radio began to buzz.

"Control to Redler one-two-five-six, come in." She picked the Radio up and clicked the speaker.

"Reika, Redler one-two-five-six to control I read you. What do you need? Over." She responded. The Radio clicked over.

"Targets are set up down range for you, over." Control replied. Reika smiled and clicked the Radio over.

"Thank you. Over and out." Reika clicked it back into place on the control panel. She turned the Redler back around to fly back to the target range. She pressed the buttons to activate her sights and caught the targets in range in approximately five seconds. She fired the guns from the chin first and then shot the Redler up in to the air to loop around to hit the second set of Targets. She sighted the other targets and fired the chest mounted guns. Reika was pleased with herself. She was sure Raven would be proud if he could see how much she has learned all on her own.

"Reika, Redler one-two-five-six, to control." She stated over the Radio.

"Control to Reika, what do you need? Over."

"Am I clear to come in to land? Over." She asked.

"Perfectly clear for landing. Over.

"Thank you, over and out." Reika clicked the Radio back into place. Reika went back to the landing dock on the roof of the hanger and hovered down onto the platform smoothly.

After she and Luminescent exited the Redler the mechanic who showed her the upgrades on the Redler approached her.

"Hey kid c'mere for a minute." He beckoned her over. Reika blinked in confusion a couple of times as she walked over to him with Luminescent at her side. "I got something for ya." He said walking down the steps. She met him at the bottom as he held out a jingling chain. She held her hand out and he dropped a pair of military issued dog tags into her hand. She examined it befuddled by it. "They're dog tags. They have your information on them." He explained. Reika held one of them up and read it.

"'_Raven's girl' _Reika. D.O.B…What does that stand for?" Reika asked.

"For the love of…Date of birth. Since I didn't know your birthday I put the day that started staying here in the palace. It was on record at least." The mechanic said.

"Oh." She continued reading. "Redler 1256" She read aloud. She looked at the other tag hanging on its own smaller chain beneath the information one. It had the Imperial insignia branded into it. "Thank you very much I like them a lot." Reika thanked putting them around her neck. The mechanic smiled and patted her on the back.

"Just thought I'd give 'em to ya cause your in here so often." He added. "See ya around kid." He waved off as he went past her to go load the Redler back and she went up the stairs admiring her new tags.

She Turned to Luminescent as they walked out of the hangar.

"People are really nice!" Reika said excitedly. Luminescent made a motion of rolling her eyes and sighing.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Reika was excited to hear around that Raven was going to come back today, but only for the day to drop things off for Prozen. She hadn't seen him in a week and wanted to tell him everything that had been going on without him here. Luminescent watched Reika look anxiously over the balcony. Her tags jingling as they smacked into each other as she bounced to and fro on her feet.

"Ooo Luminescent I simply cannot wait!" Reika stated giddily. Suddenly they both heard the Genosaurer make a cry in the distance. Reika cringed a little remembering that Raven was stuck piloting that nightmare of a Zoid. "Perhaps I'll wait in our room for him, so I do not have to see that Zoid and get bad dreams again." Reika said turning away from the balcony. She and Luminescent went back down the hall into her room to wait for Raven's arrival.

Prozen watched Raven unloading the Zoid cores he had collected. The cores dropped into the chamber of another large Zoid. Raven even got chills from being around it. Raven and Shadow exited the Genosaurer after he was through and was making his way past Prozen when he had stopped him. Raven scowled up at him.

"By the way Raven…don't think I didn't notice you and Reika." Prozen stated icily smug. Raven clenched both his hands into fists as he stood beside Prozen.

"I have no idea what you're jabbering about." Raven retorted. Prozen chuckled.

"Oh, I'm sure you do." He stated again. Raven just walked off clenching and unclenching his fists. He fumed his entire way back into the palace. He started to calm down as soon as he saw the door for Reika's room. He sped up his pace and Shadow did as well. He knocked on the door and it immediately flung open and Reika was standing right there.

"Raven!" She exclaimed as she tackled him. He embraced her tightly back.

"I missed you." He whispered to her closing his eyes.

"I missed you a lot Raven." Reika replied. She pulled out of the embrace and showed him the dog tags.

"When did you get those?" Raven asked and he examined them.

"I got them from a nice mechanic the other day. He said he thought I should wear them since I'm always out with the Redler." Reika explained happily. Raven looked at her surprised.

"You were piloting by yourself?" Raven asked incredulously.

"I had Luminescent. I have gotten very good." Reika said smiling. Raven looked back at the tags and read the name part and smiled. His smile was soon swept away at the thought of Prozen being aware of this. "What is wrong Raven?" Reika asked.

"Prozen…" Raven growled.

"He knows…" Reika whispered disappointed. "He asked me the other day and I tried to lie, but I do not think he fell for it."

"I know, he just said something to me. It doesn't matter; if he tries to hurt you to get to me I want you to get out of here as quickly as you can. Ok?" Raven said. Reika didn't seem too happy with the course of action if anything ever happened.

"What about you?" Reika asked concerned.

"I'll come find you as soon as I can." Raven replied. "I promise that if you have to run away from this wretched place I will stop at nothing to find you." Reika nodded. Raven leaned in and kissed her in the doorway, he didn't care if anyone saw at this point.

Reika leaned on Raven as they sat on a bench in the Palace garden. Both of them were watching the sunset, watching as the sky slowly changed hues and shades from bright orange to subtle cerulean and purple, then the cool black of night. Luminescent and Shadow played and wrestle on the walkway and in the flowers. Raven and Reika laughed a little at how they kept running and rolling into stone statues or bushes.

"How many stars do you think are in the sky?" Reika asked as she peered up at the sky.

"I'm not sure. Millions…trillions." Raven answered. He saw her gaze avert to the two nearly full moons.

"Did you ever wonder what was on the dark side of the moons Raven?" Reika asked now. Raven shook his head.

"I always thought it looked like the front side, just no light." Rave replied.

"Like a bad side to a person?" Reika stated. Raven looked at her bewildered.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Like how someone can be nice one minute and then be mean another. Yet they still look the same when they are doing it." Reika explained. Raven was trying understand what she was getting at. "Like how Prozen seems nice when he's actually being mean…" Reika stated. Raven nodded.

"I guess the other side of the moons could be like the bad side of a person. Look the same yet their dark for some reason." Raven repeated. Reika leaned back on his shoulder and she rested her eyes. Raven kissed her on her forehead and looked back up at the moons.

**_____________________________________________________________________________________________**

**~Sahara: I wanted to thank Inifinte Freedom for the information on the Redler and giving me ideas on the customizations. And for allowing my curiosity to stumble across a Zoids wiki in my own research. Thank you!! :D Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. **


	16. Survival of the Fittest

**Chapter Sixteen**

_Survival of the fittest. _

"Raven, I've got a request for you." Prozen stated over the communicator screen. Raven looked at him expectantly. "Since you're going after Van again, you need to kill him so the forces going to kill Rudolph will succeed and I need you to bring his little Zoidian girlfriend back with you. I have an interest in her." Prozen finished.

"What, like you do with Reika?" Raven responded distasteful of his next mission, aside from killing Van.

"Sort of like that that. I just want you to try and preserve her in your process of eliminating Van." Prozen stated. "And, just to make sure you do what I'm asking you to…" Prozen snapped his fingers and the screen flipped over to two guards holding Reika and Luminescent hostage in her bedroom.

"Raven!" Reika called out.

"Prozen you bastard let her go!" Raven immediately barked. "She has nothing to do with this, why would you drag her into it?"

"Because I want to make sure you, try your hardest this time around with Van." Prozen answered with a slight cackle. Raven growled as he gripped the controls.

"Prozen I swear to you that if you harm even a hair on her head that I will not do what ask of me!" Raven threatened.

"I knew you were going to try to reverse it. Disobey me and more than a hair will be harmed." Prozen retorted. "Now go and stop Van from reaching Rudolph. Or else." The communication was cut off. Raven pounded on the controls of the Genosaurer.

"Damn it Prozen! I knew this was going to happen..._Damn you Prozen!_" Raven fumed.

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Reika sat quietly while one of the guards stood in front of her with the gun aimed at her head. Her hands were bound behind her back and Luminescent was at the mercy of an electrical collar.

"Hey, why don't you go get us something to drink while we're in here guarding these sorry hostages. We're gonna be in here a long time." The guard aiming at Reika said to the other.

"I don't know, I don't want one of them going crazy and then them over powering you." The other one replied.

"Non-sense. You think this puny girl could do anything to me? Besides the only threat is the organoid, just turn its collar up on full shock and I'll be fine for five to ten minutes alone with them." The first guard insisted. The other one shrugged. He flipped a switch on the collar onto "high voltage" and left the room. By now Prozen was already on his way to the coronation, and poor Rudolph and company were being bombarded outside. Reika heard explosions go off every other moment. She gave small whimpers every now and then, scared to death of what might happen. Luminescent sat still glowering at the guard. Luminescent struck her tail to the ground and the guard then moved his rifle to her. "What're you doing with your tail there?" The guard asked. Luminescent tilted her head in a confused fashion. She smacked it to the ground again. "How come you're not getting shocked?" The guard asked then suddenly Luminescent roared at him and swung around and hit him with the tiny blade upon her tail, knocking him down. The Organoid then began scratching viciously at the collar with her back leg and broke it off. The Organoid then picked up the guard's gun and bit it into two pieces. She cut Reika loose and they both hurriedly left the room.

"Good girl Luminescent, why didn't the collar shock you?" Reika inquired as they ran. Luminescent grunted her response. "Really? The voltage still wasn't high enough? Huh, guess they did not do their research well at all." Reika finished on their way into the hangar. She checked to see if the mechanic was around, sadly he evacuated hours ago. Luminescent ran over to the Redler and fused with it, moving it out of its hangar hold and allowing Reika to hop into the cockpit. Reika sighted the panels on the hangar ceiling and continuously shot at them, causing significant damage to them. The panels moving components broke apart with all the shooting and fell off into the hangar floor. She piloted the Redler out the makeshift opening and into the open sky.

Reika adjusted the seatbelts to make sure they were fastened tight enough. She glanced around for the mask most aerial pilots use for when they reached higher altitudes, but just her luck it wasn't there. She sighed as she soared over the battle going on just outside the palace.

"I do not know what it is, but I want to help them Luminescent. But, Raven told me to get away as quickly as possible." Reika stated. Luminescent spoke to her through the Zoid. "I should just in the very least aide them in getting away as well. After all I am certain I do not want Prozen to be Emperor either." Reika stated. She started to head down towards the fight. After she got the Rev Raptors on the bridge in her sights and fired both guns, she realized this was the first _living_ target she's ever fired at. She managed to throw a few off ballance and let the people protecting Rudolph fire the finishing blows. Reika was a little stunned. Luminescent contacted her through the Redler again. "I'm fine Luminescent." Reika managed to get out. She gulped as she confidently looped around again and released the blade, turned upside down and pushed the thrusters to full force. She let out a cry of excitement and slight fear as she sliced through some more Rev Raptors and circled out of her attack. She began to fly off after that, not bothering to look back at the carnage she was adding to.

Moonbay, Irvine, Rudolph, and The Prime Minister watched in confusion as a burgundy Redler swooped from out of the sky and aided them by firing and slicing up some enemies.

"That resembled Viola's Redler…" Rudolph muttered.

"Whoever it was, they were pretty helpful. C'mon we need to get to that Royal Zaber." Irvine stated.

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Raven started up the charged particle canon. Van was sitting right there in front of him, awaiting the death the canon was about to unleash upon them both. Suddenly Zeke and Fiona fused in with the Blade Liger.

"You really think your damaged Organoid is going to do you any good now Van?" Raven asked cockily. He watched the Blade liger's damage seem to magically repair itself, even the missing blade he tore off earlier in the battle! "Nothing can help you now." Raven stated as the beam began to grow. The beam finally reached its full capacity and fired at Van's still Zoid. Raven laughed triumphantly for a moment until he saw the shield on the Blade Liger as deflecting the beam. "W-what?!" Raven exclaimed confused. Van directed the blade on the blade liger straight into the beam and began to drive the Zoid forward. He drove the blade into the canon barrel and then jumped back. As he jumped back the barrel being sliced and jammed by the blade cause the some particles in the beam to be jammed and it to explode. Shadow rescued Raven right at the very last second before the Genosaurer burst into bright, hot flames.

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Reika kept flying overhead, trying to comprehend what she did earlier. She really fought in an actual Zoid battle. She actually brought enemies down. She was flying in circles for the most part, trying to gather her senses. Suddenly she heard a familiar cry of a Zoid in the background. She stopped to hover the Redler in place. She looked out in the distance into the city and saw the monstrosity Prozen had unleashed upon the world. She heard it let out its battle cry and she just froze up. Memories were flooding back to her unwillingly. Days of black smoke, and nights of burning homes and lives. Red glowing eyes that pierced though her soul, even from the distance she was from it now.

"I-I cannot believe it…It…it is…back." Reika stammered frightened. Luminescent spoke to her again. "I am not certain about that Luminescent. I do not want anything to do with it. I don't think I could even be near it." Reika replied. "_But you should go see if Raven is there fighting, and if the others needed help._" She thought. "Ok, we will go and swoop by, an extra hand wouldn't hurt, maybe even seeing Prozen fall would be satisfying." Reika couldn't believe the words came from her lips.

Reika began heading in the direction of the city to see the events that were unfolding. As she approached it she watched in horror as it released a charged particle beam across the capitol several times. She finally made it into the city limits in time to see a blue Bade Liger make its own charge through the particle beam.

"Oh wow…" Reika awed. She glanced around the decimated city streets and buildings, no sign of the other monstrosity of a Zoid. Which meant no Raven…

Reika gulped as she saw the Blade Liger burst through the Deathsaurer, killing it for the time being. She heard Prozen shouting at the tops of his lungs in defeat, and relished in his misery.

"I am glad that we at least saw Prozen's tyranny come to an end." Reika said aloud. Luminescent grunted in agreement. "So do you think we should search for Raven, or let Raven come to us like he promised?" Reika asked. Luminescent once again responded in her own way. "He would want me to stay put somewhere close by, or he might be ok with me searching nearby for the time being. He might be still out there or back at the palace." Reika began speaking aloud to herself and Luminescent. She turned the Redler around after flying over the carnage. She started heading out and away from the raging flames, out past the empty palace, into the nearby wilderness, to search for Raven, and forget about the pain of Prozen's reign.

_To be continued…_

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**Have no fear, I am most definetly not ending it here. I have the sequel in mind and I am in the process of the title and first chapter all in my head. It should be up within the next few days. If not I give everyone the right to leave bad reviews. I hope you enjoyed the fic as much as I enjoyed writing it, and that you will enjoy the sequel when it's up. Thank you all for your support and help with the story.  
****~Sahara**


	17. Epilogue

**_~*EPILOGUE*~_**

Reika leaned against Luminescent as they sat, slumbering underneath the unfurled wing of the Redler. The sun of the desert was just starting to rise and bring forth the nearly unbearable heat. Organoid and Zoidian alike stirred as they heard the whir of Zoid legs working in the distance. Reika awoke and rubbed her eyes and looked out beyond the dunes and heat waves, she spotted what appeared to be a liger. Reika rubbed the sleep from her eyes a little more and focused her vision. It wasn't just any old liger, it was the Blue Blade Liger she saw defeat the Deathsaurer. She quickly got up and startled her Organoid in the process.

Finally the Blade Liger made it to her Redler and the pilot opened his cockpit to speak to her.

"Hey there, are you lost?" A boy with spiked black hair, pulled back into a short ponytail asked. Reika shook her head.

"I am looking for someone very, very dear to me." Reika replied. Luminescent walked up beside her and the boy nearly flipped.

"Oh wow you have an Organoid too!" He stated beaming. "Hey Zeke!" He called out. A silver Organoid with red eyes walked out from the other side of the Blade Liger. Luminescent and Zeke both looked at one another quizzically.

"Would you like any help finding your friend?" a girl with long, somewhat crazy blonde hair asked as she popped up behind the boy.

"I do not see why you cannot help me." Reika replied smiling. Zeke had gone back behind the Blade Liger after sniffing the air. A wind had blown by giving him a whiff of Luminescent. Zeke, unlike the other two, could smell Shadow on them.

Reika climbed into the welcoming cockpit of her Redler, and started to utilize its four legs to walk next to the Blade liger instead of flying full speed ahead of it. The Redler walked awkwardly next to the liger as she and the other two conversed through the communication systems.

"So I am Van Flyheight, and this is Fiona. What's your name?" Van introduced.

"I am Reika. Your name sounds very familiar and I cannot place where I have heard it before." Reika responded. Van laughed a little.

"It kinda feels like everywhere I go I've heard that same line. Then they end up turning on me once they figure it out." Van replied. "So how'd you come across your Organoid?" he asked.

"Huh? She's always been with me." Reika answered.

"Oh wait does that mean you are an Ancient Zoidian as well?" Fiona asked excitedly.

"Oh, yes. I did not know you were one also." Reika answered.

"Do you happen to know anything of Zoid Eve?" Fiona asked, sounding a little desperate.

"Zoid Eve? I am sorry I do not remember that about our past." Reika answered sadly. "To be honest the most I remember of the past is destruction and that monstrosity I saw you defeat in the city." She added.

"That's okay; I finally got to remember my real name once I was near the Deathsaurer." Fiona stated.

"I am very unaware of myself compared to you Fiona." Reika stated.

"So Reika can you describe who we're looking for?" Van asked. "It would help so we don't just stop some random traveler thinking they're your buddy." He added.

"Well, he has kind of medium length black hair, violet eyes, and a red Zi mark." Reika began to describe. The Blade Liger stopped dead in its tracks and the Redler turned to face it. "Anything wrong?" Reika inquired.

"Uh…Nothing just thought of someone else I once knew who looked like your friend." Van answered and the Blade Liger began to walk again.

"Oh, maybe it was him!" Reika excitedly stated. "He had to go away for missions often you must have seen him! Did you know his name?" Reika asked even more excited halting the Redler.

"Uh…His name was Raven." Van answered unsure of how to bring bad news upon her if he was right.

"Really? That was him then! Where did you last see him?" Reika bombarded. Van stuttered a little as he tried to find the right words.

"Reika I'm sorry but I don't think you'll ever see him again…Or at least anytime soon." Van tried to get out. Reika became confused.

"Why Van, what happened? Is he lost?" Reika asked. "He promised he would come find me if something ever happened…" she murmured.

"Well Reika…I…I had no choice but to obliterate his Zoid…" Van got out as bluntly as possible, to avoid beating around the bush anymore. Reika gasped and felt her heart skip a beat. "I'm sorry you had to hear that from me…But he was after me to kill me and take Fiona back to Prozen and I couldn't let that happen." Van added. "Reika?" He called out concerned.

"Now I remember where I heard your name…" Reika said in a monotone voice.

"Oh great…" Van muttered.

"Prozen said your name when he sent Raven off…That is when Prozen told him that if he did not bring Fiona back or even try then he was going to hurt me to make him do it…" Reika went on. "He came after you because of Prozen…and he is…" Reika was trying to piece the news together herself.

"Look Reika I don't know anything about that Prozen bit, but he had his own gripe with me from the start, and intended to kill me whether or not Prozen asked him to." Van corrected. "But I am sorry about your loss. I apologize for having to be the one to tell you as well." Van kept on saying sincerely. Reika heard the sincerity and was still trying to put things together. She was feeling very confused and bewildered as many emotions hit her at once.

The Redler stopped in its own tracks and it was the Liger's turn to check on it. Reika sat there in the pilot seat mortified. She was gripping the controls of the Redler tightly, then releasing them over and over again. She was feeling remorse over the loss of the only person who retained any meaning in her life, anger directed at Van for being the one who eliminated him from her life, and hatred towards Prozen for even placing him in the situation.

She could feel her heart skipping, and her blood run cold. Reika felt something warm stream on her cheeks. She went to wipe it off her cheek with her hand and found tears.

"W-what?" Reika breathed as Van appeared on the communication screen.

"Hey, you ok over there?" Van asked. Reika only blankly stared off into the sands while a tear dripped off her finger tip.

"What is 'Ok'? What are these that are coming from my eyes?" Reika began to asked aloud. Her bright green eyes were dulling in their color. She held her head like she was in agony. Van and Fiona saw her back rise and fall as she began to cry. "What are all these feelings that I am feeling? I do not know anymore…" She couldn't get a hold of her emotions and Luminescent roared outside of the Redler. Luminescent opened up her boosters and fused with the Redler in a bright purple streak. Reika's raging emotions were making the Redler an uneasy Zoid. Van and Fiona watched helplessly as Reika was attempting to deal with her breakdown.

Luminescent cut the communication off with the Liger and took control of the Redler. Zeke quickly fused with the Blade liger is unexpected confrontation was going to occur. Luminescent put the Redler into flight and soared off into the desert to get as far away from Fan and Fiona as possible.

After a half an hour of speeding away from the duo Luminescent landed the Redler in a patch of dunes. Reika was still crying and holding herself in the cockpit. Her head was pounding. How could Raven be gone? How could Van have told her that? He must have been lying, Shadow should have rescued Raven before anything bad could happen to them. Then she thought, what if Shadow didn't get to him in time? No that had to be impossible, how could Shadow not act in time? He must have there was no way that Raven was _gone_.

Not only that she was feeling that bubbling feeling in her blood again. Prozen. She hated him, she hated him immensely. It was his fault Raven would have even risked his life in that situation, it was Prozen who threatened her own life. She was overjoyed that Prozen was dead.

But that was a bittersweet sense, with the knowledge that Raven was also…

She couldn't bring herself to even think it. Reika could hardly take all the emotions swirling around inside her heart. She gave a small scream of agony and was taking in labored breaths. She had to do something to stop all this pain, but what?

Block it all. She opened her eyes and leaned back in the pilot chair. She let go of herself and began to take in deeper breaths. She just had to block everything that required any feeling. She closed her eyes and took in deep breaths. She began to put up mental walls around the images she had that did make up a nice, happy time in her past. She kept one memory up in the front of her mind. And that was the night that she and Raven had talked about the dark side of the moons, and the dark side to people.

Now she fully understood what she was getting at. Now that she had gone towards her own darker side. She opened her eyes to peer out into the endless desert, to peer out into the same bleak future that was about to unfold for her. A future filled with dunes to cross over, and sand to fall through the slow hour glass that she imagined her life as.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**_Scouring the Stars_**


End file.
